Acanthochromis Allen, 1999
- Dataset
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy
- Rank
- GENUS
Classification
- kingdom
- Animalia
- phylum
- Chordata
- order
- Perciformes
- family
- Pomacentridae
- genus
- Acanthochromis
description
— As discussed above, Acanthochromis was formerly classified with Chromis and its relatives (e. g., McCulloch, 1929; Whitley, 1929; Marshall, 1964; Allen, 1975 a, 1991), prior to its reclassification in the subfamily Pomacentrinae (Cooper et al., 2009). Acanthochromis polyacanthus, the sole member of the genus, was initially the only pomacentrid known to lack a dispersive planktonic phase, a rare occurence in marine species, and the only damselfish reported to engage in parental care of juvenile offspring (Robertson, 1973; Allen, 1975 a; Thresher, 1984; Nakazono, 1993; Kavanagh, 1998, 2000). With its limited capacity for dispersal, it is no surprise that different populations display variation in their coloration, genetics, life history, morphology, and ontogeny (Planes and Doherty, 1997 a, 1997 b; Kavanagh, 2000; Planes et al., 2001). The extensive divergence in color patterns, where individual localities often have unique color morphs, is likely the result of a strong preference for mates with similar color patterns (Allen, 1975 a, 1991; Doherty et al., 1994; Planes and Doherty, 1997 a, 1997 b; Kavanagh, 2000). Its sister-group relationship to Altrichthys is well supported (100 % bootstrap; Fig. 1).