Common Name: Whitetail Bluestripe Anemonefish
Scientific Name: Amphiprion chrysopterus Cuvier, 1830
Distribution: Palau, Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands, probably Gilbert Islands
Type Locality: Palau [original with no locality]
Identification: Caudal fin white; all other fins orange. Body mostly black. Two well-developed stripes, often tinged blue. The anterior stripe usually well-connected dorsally.
Similar: The Vanuatu population of A. cf chrysopterus is virtually identical and is differentiated here mostly on biogeography, though the anterior stripe tends to be weaker dorsally in that fish. Nearly identical to the African A. allardi, but that fish has a more darkly colored head and an orange patch present on the caudal peduncle. In the Mariana Islands and Fijian ecoregion, A. cf chrysopterus has a yellow caudal fin. In other parts of Melanesia, A. cf chrysopterus has black ventral fins. In Polynesia, A. cf chrysopterus has thinner stripes and a lighter body, as well as a yellow caudal fin.
Notes: The type locality is Palau. It’s possible this fish also occurs at Halmahera and West Papua, though specimens there are seemingly uncommon and may represent waifs from Papua New Guinea. Known to hybridize with A. tricinctus in the Marshall Islands and likely intermixes with A. cf clarkii elsewhere in Micronesia. Also commonly known as the Orangefin Anemonefish, though this name might best refer to the species group more than any particular species within it.
Amphiprionology 