Common Name: Blackfin Bluestripe Anemonefish
Scientific Name: Amphiprion cf chrysopterus
Distribution: Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Northern reefs of the Coral Sea (e.g. Osprey Reef) and rarely into the Great Barrier Reef. Reported from Halmahera and West Papua, though it is seemingly rare there.
Type Locality: n/a
Identification: Caudal fin white; dorsal fin orange, pelvic and anal fins black. Body mostly black. Two well-developed stripes, often tinged blue. The anterior stripe is often very well-developed, appearing quite thick dorsally.
Similar: Distinguished form all other species in its group in having black ventral fins.
Notes: A widespread and distinctive anemonefish that has never been scientifically described. The brown morph of this fish can appear quite like the New Caledonian A. cf akindynos and is easily confused with the subtropical A. akindynos of Australia.
Dr. Gerry Allen has reported this fish from Halmahera and West Papua, where it interbreeds with A. sandaracinos to produce the hybrid leucokranos phenotype. This hybrid “species” is especially abundant in the Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon Islands.
Amphiprionology 