Pomacentrus imitator

Imitator Damsel
Pomacentrus imitator
Pomacentrus imitator, adult, Coral Sea, Australia, Photo: Ian Shaw

Distribution

Tropical Indo-Pacific


Description

Grey blue body, scales with pale centres and distinct scale margins, large black spot at pectoral fin base, and light tail. Differs from closely related P. flavioculus by location, being confined to the Coral Sea rather than further east around Fiji and Tonga, lack of gold ring around the iris, and whitish tail rather than yellow.


Information

Max Size: 11 cm

Sea Temperature Range: 22-29.8°C

Depth: 1-15m

Habitat Generalization Index: 4.11

Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.


Conservation and Rarity

IUCN Status: Not Evaluated

Occurrence: Frequent (15.3% of sites)

Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed

Abundance: Many (40 per transect)

Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.