The Sergeant Major Fish can grow up which is a relatively large damsel fish. It is not suprising to see this bright beautiful fish grow to 6 or 7 inches in total length. It's generally lively colored and laterally compressed with upper body being yellow, occassionally with shades of blue. The lower body of the fish is white with shades of gray. These black vertical stripes narrows towards the belly, with a dark spot at the base of the pectoral fin. They have a small terminal mouth, a single nasal opening on each side of the head and a single continuous dorsal fin.
This species is a coral reef fish that is found in many reefs in the Atlantic Ocean. They are common in tropical and subtropical shallows all over the world. This fish adopted its name sergeant major because of the five black bars that resemble the insignia of that rank in the military services. The Sergeant Major fish scientific name is Abudefduf saxatilis. This scientific name stands for Abudefduf - father, saxa - living among rocks, tilus - tile-like in color. The reason it is called father is because it is aggressive and bossy to the other inhabitants of a reef. The Sergeant Major fish really doesn't have any special adaptions except for its aggressiveness and determining sexes - if male or female species.
During the months of April - August mating occurs and territories are established for reproduction. This is when the male is extremely territorial . Also, during mating the male of the species becomes deep blue (note the blue fish in the photo below). Other than waiting for mating season it is really hard to determine males from females and vice versa. Many damsel fish change sex over their lifetimes, beginning as male, and then as they grow, become female.
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