Species: Stegastes partitus, Bicolor Damselfish

Stegastes partitus (Poey, 1868)

Bicolor Damselfish

Body relatively elongate, robust, compressed; 1 pair of nostrils; margin of preopercle serrated; margin of bone under eye serrated, without notch between it and the bone before it; mouth small, protrusible, opens at front; teeth in single row, long and close-set incisors; 8-9 lower gill rakers; a single continuous dorsal fin, XII, 14-17; anal fin II, 13-15; dorsal and anal fins short, not reaching base of tail fin, soft lobes with angular tips; pectoral rays 18-20; no projecting short spines at upper and lower base of tail fin; caudal fin bluntly forked, lobes with angular tips; scales are moderately large and rough; body scaled, head largely scaled (snout scaled to nostrils), as are the basal parts of the median fins; lateral line incomplete, ends under end of dorsal fin base; lateral-line scales 18-21.

Adult variable and with intergrading patterns: 1. Black, soft dorsal, tail base and sometimes tail are white. 2. Upper head and back and front ½ of dorsal fin blackish; lower head, belly and flank, and pelvics orangish; rest of body, anal and tail fins white. 3 Head and body white; tail base and fin, and margins of dorsal and anal fins blackish; pectoral yellowish. Juvenile like adult

Size: reaches 10 cm; 13 y of age.

Shallow reefs in sheltered water.

Depth: 0-130 m.

North Carolina to the S Caribbean.