Dascyllus marginatus explained

Dascyllus marginatus (marginate dascyllus or Red Sea dascyllus) is a damselfish endemic to the Western Indian Ocean.^[1] It is a site attached fish that lives in corals, usually Stylophora pistillata and species of Acropora. In these corals it hides at a moment of danger^[2] and sleeps at night.^[3] It feeds on zooplankton that drifts with the current,^[4] and grows to a size of 6 cm in length. Dascyllus marginatus lives in groups of 2-25 individuals,^[5] and while foraging for food around their home coral, group members keep separated and stable foraging spaces.^[6]

Human Uses

It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Dascyllus marginatus . 2023-10-19 . FishBase.
2. Fishelson . L. . Popper . D. . Avidor . A. . 1974 . Biosociology and ecology of pomacentrid fishes around the Sinai Peninsula (northern Red Sea) . . en . 6 . 2 . 119–133 . 10.1111/j.1095-8649.1974.tb04532.x . 0022-1112.
3. Goldshmid . Rotem . Holzman . Roi . Weihs . Daniel . Genin . Amatzia . 2004 . Aeration of corals by sleep‐swimming fish . . en . 49 . 5 . 1832–1839 . 10.4319/lo.2004.49.5.1832 . 0024-3590. free .
4. Kent . Rafi . Holzman . Roi . Genin . Amatzia . 2006-10-05 . Preliminary evidence on group-size dependent feeding success in the damselfish Dascyllus marginatus . Marine Ecology Progress Series . en . 323 . 299–303 . 10.3354/meps323299 . 0171-8630 . free.
5. Fricke . Hans W. . 1980-05-01 . Control of different mating systems in a coral reef fish by one environmental factor . Animal Behaviour . 28 . 2 . 561–569 . 10.1016/S0003-3472(80)80065-0 . 0003-3472.
6. Engel . Anael . Reuben . Yaela . Kolesnikov . Irina . Churilov . Dmitri . Nathan . Ran . Genin . Amatzia . 2024-03-07 . Space partitioning within groups of social coral reef fish . Coral Reefs . en . 10.1007/s00338-023-02460-x . 1432-0975. free .