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, also known as the sergeant-majors, is a genus of fish in the family Pomacentridae.

The name is from Arabic ابو دفدوف abu, "the one with"; and def, "side", and the intensive plural ending -duf. The name thus 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]

• 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) (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)

Gallery

• 
  Abudefduf abdominalis
• 
  Abudefduf bengalensis
• 
  Abudefduf declivifrons
• 
  Abudefduf notatus
• 
  Abudefduf saxatilis
• 
  Abudefduf septemfasciatus
• 
  Abudefduf sexfasciatus
• 
  Abudefduf sordidus
• 
  Abudefduf sparoides
• 
  Abudefduf troschelii
• 
  Abudefduf vaigiensis

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.