''Abudefduf nigrimargo'', known as the black margined-scale sergeant, is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
damselfish
Damselfish are those within the subfamilies Abudefdufinae, Chrominae, Lepidozyginae, Pomacentrinae, and Stegastenae within the family Pomacentridae. Most species within this group are relatively small, with the largest species being about 30 ...
in the family
Pomacentridae
Pomacentridae is a family of ray-finned fish, comprising the damselfishes and clownfishes. This family were formerly placed in the order Perciformes but are now regarded as being ''incertae sedis'' in the subseries Ovalentaria in the clade Perco ...
. It is native to the northwestern
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
, where it is known only from
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
. The species is known to occur above shallow rocky
reefs
A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...
, where it forms feeding aggregations. The habitat in which ''Abudefduf nigrimargo'' can be found is also known to be inhabited by the related species ''
Abudefduf vaigiensis'' and ''
Abudefduf caudobimaculatus
''Abudefduf'' also known as the sergeant-majors is a genus of fish in the family Pomacentridae.
The name is from Arabic ''abu'', "the one with"; and ''def'', "side", and the intensive plural ending ''-duf''. The name thus means "the one with pr ...
'' (previously recognized as synonymous with ''A. vaigiensis''). The species reaches 12 cm (4.7 inches) in
standard length
Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology.
Overall length
* Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish m ...
.
''Abudefduf nigrimargo'' was first described in 2018 by Kunto Wibowo of the
Indonesian Institute of Sciences
The Indonesian Institute of Sciences ( id, Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia, or LIPI) was the governmental authority for science and research in Indonesia. It consists of 47 research centers in the fields ranging from social to natural scienc ...
, Keita Koeda of the
University of the Ryukyus
The , abbreviated to , is a Japanese national university in Nishihara, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Established in 1950, it is the westernmost national university of Japan and the largest public university in Okinawa Prefecture. Located in the S ...
, Nozomu Muto of
Tokai University
is a private non-sectarian higher education institution located in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded by Dr. Shigeyoshi Matsumae.
It was accredited under Japan's old educational system in 1946 and under the new system in 1950. In 2008, Tokai Un ...
, and