Common Name: Johnston Damsel

Distribution: Relatively common in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region: East Africa to the Hawaiian, Marquesan, and Pitcairn islands, north to the Ryukyu and Bonin islands, south to Lord Howe Island and Rapa. In Australia found from Geraldton north to Exmouth in Western Australia and from the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef in Queensland as far south as northern New South Wales and including Lord Howe and Norfolk Island.

Ecological Notes: Frequents areas rich in corals, particularly of branching species Acropora, Stylophora or Pocillopora. Mainly clear water at outer reef and oceanic locations, reef passages. Depth to 18 m.

Additional Notes: Pale fore-body with broad black bar at tail base and pale yellow tail, blue ring around eye. Similar in shape and size to Dick’s Damsel, Plectroglyphidodon dickii, which is white posteriorly of the black bar. Feeds on benthic algae and possibly coral polyps. Male and female pair during breeding, eggs are demersal and attached to substrate where the males guard and aerate them until they hatch. Grows to 14 cm.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.270.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=plectroglyphidodon+johnstonianus. Accessed 02/07/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Plectroglyphidodon-johnstonianus.html. Accessed 02/07/18.