Fish ID

This picture was taken off the central coast of Peru (Pucusana - Lima to be more precise). I've seen this fish several times before, but have not been able to ID it. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

I know nothing about Pacific fishes, but I wonder if this might be a juvenile something or other. Many times juveniles have very different coloration than their adult forms.

That is indeed a possibility to consider. Some local diver, who has not been able to totally id yet, told me it was from the Pomacentridae family and that locals call it a Zaphire Damselfis, which would id it as a Chrysiptera springeri...but further research indicates that he would be in the wrong part of the world as it's registered as only inhabiting the western pacific in tropical waters, unlike oour cold waters here in the southeastern pacific.

Hi,
young damsel fishes are hard to id....
Because you said Peru,
Chromis alta?
The Saphir Demoisell would be Chrysiptera cyanea,
but my book is old ;-)) still wrong side of the ocean...
Microspathodon dorsalis?

The problem is as well that some names / failies were changed after genetic analysis...

Good luck,
Wolfgang

Could be a Juvenile Giant Damselfish, Microspathodon dorsalis. I've seen these in the Galapagos and also the Sea of Cortez. The iridescent blue spots and lines look right and also the lighter blue edge on the ventral and anal fins, although I've not seen one where the rest looks exactly like yours. On the ones I've seen the rest of the fish had dark blue scales outlined in black.

Craig

Could be a Juvenile Giant Damselfish, Microspathodon dorsalis. I've seen these in the Galapagos and also the Sea of Cortez. The iridescent blue spots and lines look right and also the lighter blue edge on the ventral and anal fins, although I've not seen one where the rest looks exactly like yours. On the ones I've seen the rest of the fish had dark blue scales outlined in black.

Craig

Fishbase.org is comfortable with seeing the Giant Damselfish off Peru....the ID looks pretty good for a juvenile.

Final ID (99.9%) is that of a juvenile Microspathodon dorsalis (Giant Damselfish).

Thanks to everybody for their collaboration.