Abudefduf

Abudefduf
Abudefduf sordidus Hawaii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Blenniiformes
Family: Pomacentridae
Subfamily: Pomacentrinae
Genus: Abudefduf
Forsskål, 1775
Type species
Chaetodon sordidus
Forsskål, 1775[1]

Abudefduf is a genus of fish in the family Pomacentridae. They are also known as the sergeant-majors The name Abudefduf comes from Arabic word ابو دفدوف abu, "the one with"; and def, "side", and the intensive plural ending -duf. Thus, the genus' name means "the one with prominent sides".[2]

General biology

The approximately 20 species of Abudefduf may be divided into planktivores and benthivores and three broadly pantropical clades.[3][4][5] Two of the Abudefduf clades are primarily benthivorous and a third clade is composed of planktivores and is the most species-rich. Most diversification has occurred in the last 10 million years within this genus across all clades.[6][7]

In their native environment, sergeant majors are very abundant, often being one of the dominant species in a locale.[8][9][10][11] Research indicates that some Abudefduf species are undergoing range expansion towards more temperate waters in Australia.[12][13]

Species

The following 21 species are recognized in the genus Abudefduf:[14]

Species Common name Image
Abudefduf abdominalis

(Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)

Hawaiian sergeant
Abudefduf bengalensis

(Bloch, 1787)

Bengal sergeant
Abudefduf caudobimaculatus

Okada & Ikeda, 1939[15]

Okinawa sergeant
Abudefduf concolor

(T. N. Gill, 1862)

Dusky sergeant
Abudefduf conformis

J. E. Randall & Earle, 1999

Abudefduf declivifrons

(T. N. Gill, 1862)

Mexican nightsergeant
Abudefduf hoefleri

(Steindachner, 1881)

African sergeant
Abudefduf lorenzi

Hensley & G. R. Allen, 1977

Black-tail sergeant
Abudefduf margariteus

(G. Cuvier, 1830)

Pearly sergeant
Abudefduf natalensis

Hensley & J. E. Randall, 1983

Natal sergeant
Abudefduf nigrimargo

Wibowo, Koeda, Muto & Motomura, 2018

Black margined-scale sergeant
Abudefduf notatus

(F. Day, 1870)

Yellowtail sergeant
Abudefduf saxatilis

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Atlantic sergeant-major
Abudefduf septemfasciatus

(G. Cuvier, 1830)

Banded sergeant
Abudefduf sexfasciatus

(Lacépède, 1801)

Scissortail sergeant
Abudefduf sordidus

(Forsskål, 1775)

Blackspot sergeant
Abudefduf sparoides

(Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)

False-eye sergeant
Abudefduf taurus

(Müller & Troschel, 1848)

Night sergeant
Abudefduf troschelii

(T. N. Gill, 1862)

Panamic sergeant-major
Abudefduf vaigiensis

(Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)

Indo-Pacific sergeant
Abudefduf whitleyi

G. R. Allen & D. R. Robertson, 1974

Whitley's sergeant

References

  1. ^ Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Abudefduf". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  2. ^ "International Code of Zoological Nomenclature". Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  3. ^ Hensley (1978). Revision of the Indo-West Pacific species of Abudefduf (Pisces: Pomacentridae) (PhD thesis). University of South Florida.
  4. ^ Aguilar-Medrano, Rosalía; Barber, Paul H. (2015-12-17). "Ecomorphological diversification in reef fish of the genus Abudefduf (Percifomes, Pomacentridae)". Zoomorphology. 135 (1): 103–114. doi:10.1007/s00435-015-0291-6. ISSN 0720-213X. S2CID 18841806.
  5. ^ Frédérich, Bruno; Sorenson, Laurie; Santini, Francesco; Slater, Graham J.; Alfaro, Michael E. (January 2013). "Iterative Ecological Radiation and Convergence during the Evolutionary History of Damselfishes (Pomacentridae)". The American Naturalist. 181 (1): 94–113. Bibcode:2013ANat..181...94F. doi:10.1086/668599. hdl:2268/136861. ISSN 0003-0147. PMID 23234848. S2CID 38968103.
  6. ^ Campbell, Matthew A.; Robertson, D. Ross; Vargas, Marta I.; Allen, Gerald R.; McMillan, W.O. (2018-08-14). "Multilocus molecular systematics of the circumtropical reef-fish genus Abudefduf (Pomacentridae): history, geography and ecology of speciation". PeerJ. 6 e5357. doi:10.7717/peerj.5357. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 6097498. PMID 30128183.
  7. ^ Youtube <<Advance Marine Aquarium>> Creatures section, Damselfish - Author:Sublanding Fish[2020-06-19]
  8. ^ Eggertsen, L.; Hammar, L.; Gullström, M. (9 November 2016). "Effects of tidal current-induced flow on reef fish behaviour and function on a subtropical rocky reef" (PDF). Marine Ecology Progress Series. 559: 175–192. Bibcode:2016MEPS..559..175E. doi:10.3354/meps11918. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  9. ^ Villegas-Hernández, H.; Novelo-Ríos, E.; Fuentes-Dantorie, K.; Guillén-Hernández, S.; González-Salas, C.; Pech-Puch, D.; Díaz-Gamboa, R.; Poot-López, G. (2022). "Life-history traits facilitate the population success of the sergeant major Abudefduf saxatilis (Linnaeus, 1758, Perciformes: Pomacentridae) in the Caribbean Sea". Marine Biology Research. 18 (3–4): 230–251. Bibcode:2022MBioR..18..230V. doi:10.1080/17451000.2022.2117827.
  10. ^ Paula, Yuri Cruz de; Schiavetti, Alexandre; Sampaio, Cláudio L. S.; Calderon, Emiliano (August 2018). "The effects of fish feeding by visitors on reef fish in a Marine Protected Area open to tourism". Biota Neotropica. 18 (3). doi:10.1590/1676-0611-bn-2017-0339.
  11. ^ Moussa, Rakamaly Madi (2018). "Are mangroves important for reef fish on Mayotte Island (Indian Ocean)?" (PDF). Cybium. 42 (4): 327–340. doi:10.26028/cybium/2018-424-004. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  12. ^ Pearce, Alan; Hutchins, Barry; Hoschke, Alex; Fearns, Peter (November 2016). "Record high damselfish recruitment at Rottnest Island, Western Australia, and the potential for climate-induced range extension". Regional Studies in Marine Science. 8 (1): 77–88. Bibcode:2016RSMS....8...77P. doi:10.1016/j.rsma.2016.09.009.
  13. ^ Monaco, Cristián J.; Nagelkerken, Ivan; Booth, David J.; Figueira, Will F.; Gillanders, Bronwyn M.; Schoeman, David S.; Bradshaw, Corey J. A. (24 November 2020). "Opposing life stage-specific effects of ocean warming at source and sink populations of range-shifting coral-reef fishes". Animal Ecology. 90 (3): 615–627. doi:10.1111/1365-2656.13394.
  14. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Abudefduf". FishBase. October 2022 version.
  15. ^ Wibowo, Kunto & Toda, Minoru & Motomura, Hiroyuki. (2017). Validity of Abudefduf caudobimaculatus Okada and Ikeda 1939 and synonymies of Abudefduf vaigiensis (Quoy and Gaimard 1825) (Perciformes: Pomacentridae). Ichthyological Research. 65. 10.1007/s10228-017-0594-3.