Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 7, 2026

Abudefduf

Abudefduf is a genus of fish in the family Pomacentridae. They are also known as the sergeant-majors The name Abudefduf comes from Arabic word ابو دفدوف abu, "the one with"; and def, "side", and the intensive plural ending -duf. Thus, the genus' name means "the one with prominent sides".

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Jul 7, 2026
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Abudefduf
Abudefduf sordidus Hawaii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Blenniiformes
Family: Pomacentridae
Subfamily: Pomacentrinae
Genus: Abudefduf
Forsskål, 1775
Type species
Chaetodon sordidus
Forsskål, 17751

Abudefduf is a genus of fish in the family Pomacentridae. They are also known as the sergeant-majors The name Abudefduf comes from Arabic word ابو دفدوف abu, "the one with"; and def, "side", and the intensive plural ending -duf. Thus, the genus' name means "the one with prominent sides".2

General biology

The approximately 20 species of Abudefduf may be divided into planktivores and benthivores and three broadly pantropical clades.345 Two of the Abudefduf clades are primarily benthivorous and a third clade is composed of planktivores and is the most species-rich. Most diversification has occurred in the last 10 million years within this genus across all clades.67

In their native environment, sergeant majors are very abundant, often being one of the dominant species in a locale.891011 Research indicates that some Abudefduf species are undergoing range expansion towards more temperate waters in Australia.1213

Species

The following 21 species are recognized in the genus Abudefduf:14

Species Common name Image
Abudefduf abdominalis

(Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)

Hawaiian sergeant
Abudefduf bengalensis

(Bloch, 1787)

Bengal sergeant
Abudefduf caudobimaculatus

Okada & Ikeda, 193915

Okinawa sergeant
Abudefduf concolor

(T. N. Gill, 1862)

Dusky sergeant
Abudefduf conformis

J. E. Randall & Earle, 1999

Abudefduf declivifrons

(T. N. Gill, 1862)

Mexican nightsergeant
Abudefduf hoefleri

(Steindachner, 1881)

African sergeant
Abudefduf lorenzi

Hensley & G. R. Allen, 1977

Black-tail sergeant
Abudefduf margariteus

(G. Cuvier, 1830)

Pearly sergeant
Abudefduf natalensis

Hensley & J. E. Randall, 1983

Natal sergeant
Abudefduf nigrimargo

Wibowo, Koeda, Muto & Motomura, 2018

Black margined-scale sergeant
Abudefduf notatus

(F. Day, 1870)

Yellowtail sergeant
Abudefduf saxatilis

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Atlantic sergeant-major
Abudefduf septemfasciatus

(G. Cuvier, 1830)

Banded sergeant
Abudefduf sexfasciatus

(Lacépède, 1801)

Scissortail sergeant
Abudefduf sordidus

(Forsskål, 1775)

Blackspot sergeant
Abudefduf sparoides

(Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)

False-eye sergeant
Abudefduf taurus

(Müller & Troschel, 1848)

Night sergeant
Abudefduf troschelii

(T. N. Gill, 1862)

Panamic sergeant-major
Abudefduf vaigiensis

(Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)

Indo-Pacific sergeant
Abudefduf whitleyi

G. R. Allen & D. R. Robertson, 1974

Whitley's sergeant
References

References

  1. Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Abudefduf". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  2. "International Code of Zoological Nomenclature". Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  3. Hensley (1978). Revision of the Indo-West Pacific species of Abudefduf (Pisces: Pomacentridae) (PhD thesis). University of South Florida.
  4. Aguilar-Medrano, Rosalía; Barber, Paul H. (2015-12-17). "Ecomorphological diversification in reef fish of the genus Abudefduf (Percifomes, Pomacentridae)". Zoomorphology. 135 (1): 103–114. doi:10.1007/s00435-015-0291-6. ISSN 0720-213X. S2CID 18841806.
  5. Frédérich, Bruno; Sorenson, Laurie; Santini, Francesco; Slater, Graham J.; Alfaro, Michael E. (January 2013). "Iterative Ecological Radiation and Convergence during the Evolutionary History of Damselfishes (Pomacentridae)". The American Naturalist. 181 (1): 94–113. Bibcode:2013ANat..181...94F. doi:10.1086/668599. hdl:2268/136861. ISSN 0003-0147. PMID 23234848. S2CID 38968103.
  6. Campbell, Matthew A.; Robertson, D. Ross; Vargas, Marta I.; Allen, Gerald R.; McMillan, W.O. (2018-08-14). "Multilocus molecular systematics of the circumtropical reef-fish genus Abudefduf (Pomacentridae): history, geography and ecology of speciation". PeerJ. 6 e5357. doi:10.7717/peerj.5357. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 6097498. PMID 30128183.
  7. Youtube <<Advance Marine Aquarium>> Creatures section, Damselfish - Author:Sublanding Fish[2020-06-19]
  8. Eggertsen, L.; Hammar, L.; Gullström, M. (9 November 2016). "Effects of tidal current-induced flow on reef fish behaviour and function on a subtropical rocky reef" (PDF). Marine Ecology Progress Series. 559: 175–192. Bibcode:2016MEPS..559..175E. doi:10.3354/meps11918. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  9. Villegas-Hernández, H.; Novelo-Ríos, E.; Fuentes-Dantorie, K.; Guillén-Hernández, S.; González-Salas, C.; Pech-Puch, D.; Díaz-Gamboa, R.; Poot-López, G. (2022). "Life-history traits facilitate the population success of the sergeant major Abudefduf saxatilis (Linnaeus, 1758, Perciformes: Pomacentridae) in the Caribbean Sea". Marine Biology Research. 18 (3–4): 230–251. Bibcode:2022MBioR..18..230V. doi:10.1080/17451000.2022.2117827.
  10. Paula, Yuri Cruz de; Schiavetti, Alexandre; Sampaio, Cláudio L. S.; Calderon, Emiliano (August 2018). "The effects of fish feeding by visitors on reef fish in a Marine Protected Area open to tourism". Biota Neotropica. 18 (3). doi:10.1590/1676-0611-bn-2017-0339.
  11. Moussa, Rakamaly Madi (2018). "Are mangroves important for reef fish on Mayotte Island (Indian Ocean)?" (PDF). Cybium. 42 (4): 327–340. doi:10.26028/cybium/2018-424-004. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  12. Pearce, Alan; Hutchins, Barry; Hoschke, Alex; Fearns, Peter (November 2016). "Record high damselfish recruitment at Rottnest Island, Western Australia, and the potential for climate-induced range extension". Regional Studies in Marine Science. 8 (1): 77–88. Bibcode:2016RSMS....8...77P. doi:10.1016/j.rsma.2016.09.009.
  13. Monaco, Cristián J.; Nagelkerken, Ivan; Booth, David J.; Figueira, Will F.; Gillanders, Bronwyn M.; Schoeman, David S.; Bradshaw, Corey J. A. (24 November 2020). "Opposing life stage-specific effects of ocean warming at source and sink populations of range-shifting coral-reef fishes". Animal Ecology. 90 (3): 615–627. doi:10.1111/1365-2656.13394.
  14. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Abudefduf". FishBase. October 2022 version.
  15. Wibowo, Kunto & Toda, Minoru & Motomura, Hiroyuki. (2017). Validity of Abudefduf caudobimaculatus Okada and Ikeda 1939 and synonymies of Abudefduf vaigiensis (Quoy and Gaimard 1825) (Perciformes: Pomacentridae). Ichthyological Research. 65. 10.1007/s10228-017-0594-3.