Scissortail Sergeant Fish

Two Scissortail Sergeant Fish show off their namesake

The scissorlike-tail and dominant black stripes give this reef-dwelling fish its fitting names – the scissortail sergeant or striptailed damselfish. Part of the Pomacentridae family, are found in tropical waters around the Red Sea, Indian and Pacific Oceans.

The males of the species go to great lengths to protect their young and are the only parent that does. After laying eggs, the females leave them to be tended to by the males. Because the females often cluster their eggs together to protect them from predators, the males may often have large amounts of eggs to look after and may resort to eating some of them if they do not readily have a steady source of food available.

The scissortail sergeant fish generally eats a mix of zooplankton, algae, and smaller fish. The species grows to be about six inches long.

 Text source: Wikipedia under Creative Commons license.

© Copyright Vince Capone 2013