Species: Chromis enchrysura, Yellowtail Reeffish Chromis, Yellowtail chromis, Yellowtail reeffish

blue line snout to below D

Chromis enchrysura Jordan & Gilbert, 1882
Yellowtail reeffish, Yellowtail chromis
Body compressed, a deep oval; 1 pair of nostrils; edge of bone under eye smooth, no notch, hidden by scales; preopercle smooth or with occasional fine serrations; mouth small, protrusible, opens at front; teeth in 2 rows, outer conical, larger; a single continuous dorsal fin XIII, 11-13; anal fin II, 11-13; pectoral 17-19; 2-3 short projecting spines at upper and lower base of tail fin; caudal fin deeply forked, with rounded tips; scales large and rough; body scaled, most of head scaled, basal parts of the median fins scaled; lateral line incomplete, ends under end of dorsal fin base; lateral line scales 15-19.
Adult: Upper ½ of head and body and spinous dorsal fin dark grey-brown, lower parts and tail base white, an abrupt separation between those two color zones; an electric, purplish-blue stripe from top lip, through upper edge of eye to under front 1/3 of dorsal fin; soft dorsal, tail fin, and outer ¾ of anal fin yellow. Juvenile with upper ¾ of head and body dark bluish grey, grading to white below; blue lines more strongly marked, fin colors similar, plus pelvics yellow.
Reaches 10 cm.
Outer edges of reefs.
Depth range: 5-97 m.
Cape Hatteras to the Gulf of Mexico.
Note: closely related to but genetically distinct from C. cf enchrysura, which has a different color pattern and a different geographic range.

High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Near Bottom
- Bottom + water column
- Habitat
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- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Reef only
- Water column
- Rocks
- Corals
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- FishBase Habitat
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- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
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- Data
- Planktivore
- Diet
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- Data
- Zooplankton
- Egg Type
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- Benthic
- Pelagic larva
- Data
- Global Endemism
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- West Atlantic Endemic
- All species.
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- GC endemic
- Continent
- All species..
- Continent only
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
- IUCN Red List
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- Listed
- Least concern
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Depth Range Max
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- 97
- Depth Range Min
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- 5
- Length Max
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- 10