Amphiprion japonicus

Common Name: Japanese Anemonefish

Scientific Name: Amphiprion japonicus Temminck & Schlegel, 1843

Distribution: Japan, possibly South Korea

Type Locality: Japan

Identification: Caudal fin bright yellow in male, becoming clear medially in many specimens; female fin is a primarily white. Stripes are somewhat thin. Amelanistic specimens with orange pelvic fins (sometimes tipped in brown) and with a dark anal fin. The darkened back is highly variable in extent. Melanistic specimens entirely black.

Similar: Males can appear quite like the Indian Ocean forms, though the stripes tend be thicker in those populations. The white-tailed females of A. japonicus are seemingly indistinguishable form those found in Indonesia, the Philippines and east through the Caroline Islands.

Notes: This is the only Amphiprion found along the main islands of Japan. More study is needed to determine its precise distribution in the Ryukyu Arc, where it is seemingly absent. Likely to be absent from the aquarium trade, unless collected for the Japanese market.

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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