Sealife guideThe royal dottybackPictichromis paccagnellorum

Last updated on 02/10/2025 at 09:06 PM

Taxonomy

Common name: Royal dottyback
French name: Vanille fraise
Scientific name: Pictichromis paccagnellorum (Axelrod, 1973)
Family name: Pseudochromidae
Order name: Perciformes
Class name: Actinopterygii

Description

The royal dottyback is a very small marine fish that measures a maximum of 2.75 inches in length. The royal dottyback is a bicolored fish with a purple-violet front part and a yellow rear part of its body.

The royal dottyback (Pictichromis paccagnellorum) © Rickard Zerpe sous licence Creative Commons

Geographic range

The royal dottyback is found in the western Pacific Ocean, particularly in Indonesia, including the islands of Java and Sulawesi, and as far as the archipelagos of Vanuatu and Palau in Micronesia.

Habitat

The royal dottyback is a solitary and territorial fish that rarely ventures into open water outside of its shelter, which it has found within coral reefs.

Diet

The royal dottyback primarily feeds on plankton and small crustaceans.

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