Pseudochromis melas, Dark dottyback

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Pseudochromis melas Lubbock, 1977

Dark dottyback
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Pseudochromis melas   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Pseudochromis melas (Dark dottyback)
Pseudochromis melas
Picture by Randall, J.E.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Ovalentaria/misc (Various families in series Ovalentaria) > Pseudochromidae (Dottybacks) > Pseudochrominae
Etymology: Pseudochromis: Greek, pseudes = false + Greek, chromis = a fish, perhaps a perch (Ref. 45335); melas: Named for its color, black (Ref. 81967).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; reef-associated; depth range 15 - 30 m (Ref. 11228). Tropical

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Indian Ocean: Kenya and Natal, South Africa.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 8.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 11228)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 3; Dorsal soft rays (total): 26; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 15.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Often in rocky crevices (Ref. 9137); coral reefs on reef slopes (Ref. 81967).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Smith, M.M., 1986. Pseudochromidae. p. 539-541. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. (Ref. 5471)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 13 August 2019

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search |