Amphiprion frenatus

Common Name: Tomato Anemonefish

Scientific Name: Amphiprion frenatus Brevoort, 1856

Distribution: Philippines, north to the Ryukyu Arc,west to South China Sea, the Gulf of Thailand and perhaps the Java Sea.

Type Locality: Naha, Okinawa Island, Ryukyu Islands, Japan

Identification: Single stripe. Body notably red in color. Sexually dichromatic; males brightly colored throughout the body and fins, without a dark back; females much darker, with black extending through much of the back and sides, the ventral fins develop black basally.

Similar: The ventral fin coloration of females and the sexually dichromatic males allow this species to be diagnosed from similar populations of A. melanopus and A. cf melanopus. The Australian A. rubrocinctus can appear nearly identical when the stripe is well-formed, but the pelvic fins of females have a dark leading edge, rather than being darkened basally, and males are not a light as in A. frenatus.

Notes: In the aquarium trade, this is perhaps the most commonly kept member of the melanopus group. This is an abundant fish in the Philippines and north to Okinawa, but it becomes less-frequently documented to the west, where it likely hybridizes with A. melanopus in the Java Sea. It has also been noted to hybridize in the wild with A. clarkii and in captivity with A. ocellaris. Melanistic specimens have been reported on rare occasion and can strongly resemble A. mccullochi.