Midnight Dottyback, Manonichthys paranox (Lubbock & Goldman 1976)
A Midnight Dottyback, Manonichthys paranox, at Tulagi, Nggela Islands, Florida Islands, Solomon Islands, March 2018. Source: Mark Rosenstein / iNaturalist.org. License: CC By Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
The Midnight Dottyback is jet black with a dark reddish iris, relatively long pectoral and pelvic fins, and 29-30 soft dorsal-fin rays. The pelvic fin is also reddish anteriorly.
This rare dottyback mimics the Midnight Angelfish, Centropyge nox, preferring the same habitat and even swimming with a similar dancing motion.
Midnight Dottyback, Manonichthys paranox (Lubbock & Goldman 1976)
More Info
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Distribution |
Northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, and reefs in the Coral Sea. Elsewhere the species occurs in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Inhabits slopes and drop-offs on coral and rocky reefs, sheltering amongst corals, and holes in the reef. |
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Biology |
Dottybacks are protogynous hermaphrodites, and form small harems with a dominant male and several females. |
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Etymology |
The species is named paranox because it mimics the Midnight Angelfish, Centropyge nox. |
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Species Citation |
Pseudochromis paranox Lubbock & Goldman 1976, J. Nat. Hist. 10(1): 60, fig. 2. Type locality: Sandfly Passage, Florida Island, Solomon Islands. |
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Author |
Bray, D.J. 2018 |
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Resources |
Midnight Dottyback, Manonichthys paranox (Lubbock & Goldman 1976)
References
Allen, G.R. & M.V. Erdmann, M.V. 2007. A new species of Manonichthys Gill, 2004 (Pisces: Pseudochromidae) from Irian Jaya Barat Province, Indonesia. Zoological Studies 46(5): 541-546.
Allen, G.R. & Erdmann, M.V. 2012. Reef fishes of the East Indies. Perth : Tropical Reef Research 3 vols, 1260 pp.
Gill, A.C. 2004. Revision of the Indo-Pacific dottyback fish subfamily Pseudochrominae (Perciformes: Pseudochromidae). Smithiana, Publication in Aquatic Biodiversity, Monographs 1: 1-213
Lubbock, R. & Goldman, B. 1976. Two distinctive new Australasian Pseudochromis (Teleostei : Perciformes). Journal of Natural History 10(1): 57-64 figs 1-2
Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & Steene, R. 1990. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 507 pp. figs.
Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & Steene, R. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 557 pp. figs.
