johnnysalami's Favorites

Photos courtesy of Samantha M. Clements & the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation.

This is the true A. chagosensis, endemic to Chagos and an obligate symbiont of Heteractis magnifica.

Compared to the undescribed A. cf bicinctus in Chagos, it is smaller, more brown than orange, with dark ventral fins, and thin stripes. Juveniles lack subapical dark spots in the dorsal and anal fins (present in juveniles of A. cf bicintus).

Photos courtesy of Jon Slayer & the Chagos Conservation Trust.

This species is often misidentified as A. chagosensis. Gerry Allen misidentified this as the Red Sea endemic A. bicinctus in one of his works. Rather, this seems to be an undescribed endemic species in the clarkii complex. Unlike the true A. chagosensis, which occurs only in Heteractis magnifica, this species is an anemone generalist. The photos here show it in Entacmaea quadricolor, Stichodactyla mertensii, and Heteractis aurora.

[edit: this may actually belong to the bicintus clade in the Western Indian Ocean. notably, the juveniles lack a white caudal bar]

Photo courtesy of Sari Dive in West Bali.

https://saridive.exblog.jp/18310334/

http://saridive.com/index.html

This is a rarely seen hybrid of ocellaris X sandaracinos. It's still recognized as a "valid" species, but that's an oversight in this unrevised genus.