Damselfish on reef crest

Here's a damselfish I've now seen in both Fiji and the Solomon Islands, in the surge zone on the reef crest and pinnacle tops in 10 feet of water. I suspect it is a juvenile coloration. Any ideas?

-Mark

Hi Mark,

I don't have a firm answer but it reminds me of Stegasted obreptus (Western Gregory), which has similar shape, dark edges on scales, yellow edging on start of dorsal, and a blue edging on the ventral fins. It has a prominent black spot below the yellow edging of the dorsal and it does not have the pale coloration towards the back. It is found shallow, 2-10m, but I don't think it is found as far East as Fiji so perhaps yours is a closely related sister species.

I am looking forward to find out the answer.

Bart

Someone on another site identified this as Stegastes fasciolatus, Pacific Gregory.

-Mark

When I was working on Nai'a, Gerry Allen visited and gave a talk about fishes. He said that many fishes in Fiji have more yellow on them than the same species in other areas, and nobody really knows why. Knowing this can help identify fishes from Fiji. For example fish ID books might show this species from other areas, without that yellow on the dorsal fin.

Yes, I've dived with Gerry Allen on the Nai'a as well, and these photos were shot on a Nai'a trip. I'm trying to document the Fiji variants of the fish there, and am running into a few that are difficult to identify.

-Mark