Australasian fishes

What the heck! John Sear has developed quite a habit of observing and documenting fishes south of their 'official' distributions. The southern limit to the distribution of the Princess Damsel, Pomacentrus vaiuli, is Moreton Bay, Queensland. This fish was observed more than 700km further south.

When asked about this remarkable observation John stated, "Re the P. vaiuli observation, last summer was an especially exciting one as far as species being observed outside their normal distribution ranges. Cabbage tree Bay aquatic reserve is a particularly good refuge for species that have had a ride down the eastern coast on the EAC, and last summer was particularly good for spotting damselfish species. This one was in close proximity to several other species that are not commonly spotted in the area, hiding amongst the rocky reef. It's colouration differentiated it from the more commonly found species, though identification required participation of more experienced fish gurus on iNat. Spotting new arrivals is easy, but confirmation of identification often requires expert input as was the case with this one."

As John said, there was some uncertainty about the identity of the fish, in particular whether the fish was P. vaiuli or P. bankanensis. We consulted the damselfish expert, Dr Gerald Allen who confirmed that the fish was indeed P. vaiuli. Thank you to Gerry for sharing his expertise and to John for another great contribution!