Black-bar Chromis
Pycnochromis retrofasciatus
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Actinopterygii
- Order
- Ovalentaria incertae sedis
- Family
- Pomacentridae
- Genus
- Pycnochromis
- Species
- Pycnochromis retrofasciatus
The black-bar chromis (Pycnochromis retrofasciatus) is a small, pale grey to brownish damselfish with a single dark bar across the rear of its body, just in front of the white tail. It was long known as Chromis retrofasciata.
It reaches only about 5 cm and lives in small groups around branching corals on reef slopes, hovering just above the coral to pick plankton from the water and diving into the branches when threatened.
The black-bar chromis is found in the western Pacific, including the Philippines, where it is common on coral-rich slopes from shallow water down to around 60 m.