Details - Maldives Bio Diversity

Species Details

Details of Green chromis will be displayed below

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Green chromis

Green chromis

Common Name: Green chromis, blue-green chromis, Blue green damselfish
Scientific Name: Chromis viridis
Local Name: Nila'mehi
Dhivehi Name: ނިލަމެހި

Animalia (Kingdom)

Chordata (Plylum)

Actinopterygii (Class)

Perciformes (Order)

Pomacentridae (Family)

Chromis (Genus)

Green chromis's description

Adults of this species can grow up to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) at maximum length.

Dorsal fin with 12 spines and 9-10 rays. Anal fin with 2 spines and 10-11 rays.
Pectoral rays 17-18. Body depth 2.0-2.1 in standard length. Suborbital bones scaled, with lower margins
smooth. Preopercular margin smooth. Caudal fin forked.

Colour: Blue-green shading to whitish ventrally. A faint dusky spot at upper base of pectoral fin. A blue line
from front of snout to eyes. Nesting male yellow with black dorsal.

Green chromis's facts

Green chromis's Behavior & Ecology

Adults are found in large aggregations above thickets of branching Acropora corals in sheltered areas such as subtidal reef flats and lagoons. Juveniles closely tied to individual coral heads.

Green chromis's Feeding

Green chromis feeds on phytoplankton, zooplankton, and algae, copepods, Artemia, and amphipods make up the diet of this fish in the wild. This fish also feeds on eggs that fail to hatch. It feeds by ram jawing

Green chromis's Reproduction

Males prepare nest for spawning which is shared with several females. Large number of eggs spawned hatching in 2-3 days. Males guard the nest ventilating fertilized egg with their caudal fins and feeding on those which do not hatch. Oviparous, distinct pairing during breeding. Eggs are demersal and adhere to the substrate

Green chromis's Relationship with Humans

green chromis is used as a bait for pole and line tuna fishery. It is used most commonly on the
eastern side of the Maldives during the north east monsoon, and on the western side during the southwest
monsoon. Previously recorded as C. caeruleus (as in Catalogue of Fishes of the Maldives, Vol. 1, page 116),
but this name is now invalid.

Green chromis habitat

This species inhabits the hard substrates of lagoons and subtidal reef flats (Fricke et al. 2009; 2014; Moore et al. 2014; Arndt and Fricke 2019; Fricke et al. 2019). It is often found in large aggregations among thickets of branching Acropora corals (Fricke et al. 2009, Coker et al. 2014, Fricke et al. 2019). It consumes plankton (Sandin and Williams 2010). It produces a large number of eggs and hatching begins after 2-3 days. During spawning, males prepare the nest which is shared by several females. They guard the nest, ventilating fertilized eggs with their caudal fins and feeding on those which do not hatch (Mellin et al. 2006). This is thought to be a short-lived species with a generation length likely around 3-4 years. The maximum total length is 10 cm (Allen and Erdmann 2012).

Green chromis threats

This species is heavily reliant on live coral reef habitat. In most of its range, there have been coral reef declines with pronounced declines in southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean and declines are expected to continue due to climate change impacts. This species relies on Acropora for habitat and a large number of Acropora species are considered threatened, particularly in the Coral Triangle (Carpenter et al. 2008). It is also heavily exploited in southeast Asia for the marine aquarium trade and localized declines may occur.