Threespot dascyllus
Three spot damsel ( Dascyllus trimaculatus )
The three- spot damsel ( Dascyllus trimaculatus ) is a species of the family of damselfish (Pomacentridae ). The fish live widespread in the Red Sea and the tropical Indo-Pacific from the coast of East Africa as far as Pitcairn, north to southern Japan and south to Sydney. In Hawaii and 1000 km south -lying Johnston Atoll they are by the closely related Hawaiian damsel ( Dascyllus Albis ella ), replaced in the Line Islands by Dascyllus auripinnis and in the Marquesas by Strasburg damsel ( Dascyllus strasburgi ).
Features
Three spot - Prussia fish are eleven inches long. Juveniles are jet-black, each with a white patch on the flanks below the dorsal fin middle and on the forehead. The center of the shed shimmering bluish. The fins are black, with the exception of the transparent rear part of the dorsal fin and the equally transparent pectoral fins. In adult animals, the deep black color, and the forehead stain disappears. The white spots on the sides are smaller. Head, fins and scales borders remain mostly black. There are various local color forms in which prevail different shades of gray. But fins and belly can be dirty yellowish. Along the lateral line of the three- spot - Prussia fish have 17-18 scales. The number of gill Reuse extensions is 22 to 26
Fins formula: Dorsal XII/14-16, Anal II/14-15, pectoral 19-21
Way of life
The fish live in coral and reefs at depths up to 55 meters. Juveniles live like anemone fish with anemone symbiosis. As host anemones serve the BTA, the corkscrew anemone, the nubs edge anemone, all three Heteractis species and the three Stichodactyla species. Three spot - Prussia fish feed on copepods, other small planktonic crustaceans and algae.
Reproduction
The fish are like all damselfish substrate spawners and glue their eggs in a cave or hidden niche on the wall. A clutch has about 1000 eggs. The male guards the eggs. After three days of hatch only 2 mm long larvae leave the hide and live in. pelagic. The parents spawn again about 10 days after hatching of the larvae.
System
The three- spot damsel is the eponymous type of Dascyllus trimaculatus species complex, which consists of far more, closely related Dascyllus species, of which four described previously and, you follow the cladogram below, two additional, previously undescribed containing species.
Simplified cladogram of Dascyllus trimaculatus complex:
Dascyllus trimaculatus, population in the Red Sea ( type locality ) and on the east coast of Africa
" D. trimaculatus " population in the western Pacific ( southern Japan to Wallis Islands)
Dascyllus auripinnis ( Line Islands )
Hawaii Prussia fish (D. albi ella )
" D. trimaculatus " population in the Society Islands
Strasburg Prussia fish (D. strasburgi ) ( Marquesas )
Hunting and
Three spot - Prussia fish are imported for the purpose of aquarium maintenance now and then. Adult fish, however, are so aggressive that the common line with other fish is virtually impossible.