Amphiprion snyderi

Common Name: Ogasawara Black Anemonefish

Scientific Name: Amphiprion snyderi Ishikawa 1904

Distribution: Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands, possibly Miniami Torishima

Type Locality: Ogasawara Islands, Japan

Identification: Always fully melanistic, with black ventral fins. Caudal fin white or sooty grey. Juveniles with black pelvic fins; the body quickly turns dark.

Similar: Fully melanistic specimens from Indonesia and the Philippines appear similar, but the caudal fin is typically still somewhat cream-colored (not white). Juveniles of these populations are much brighter, with yellow pelvic fins.

Notes: Known only from the Bubbletip Anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor), a host which never induces melanism in related species. This is one of the few species truly unique to the Ogasawara Islands, a region referred to as the “Galapagos of the East” due to the many endemic organisms found here. It may also be expected to occur at the isolated Miniami Torishima (Marcus Island) to the east, as another regionally endemic species, Genicanthus takeuchii, has been spotted there.

Taxonomy Note: This species was treated as a synonym of Amphiprion clarkii in Allen 1991 and subsequent references. The elevation to full species status used in this classification should be considered provisional until a full taxonomic revision is published.

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