Blue-green Chromis Chromis viridis

The Blue-green Chromis is also called the Green Chromis as is its scientific name. Although it is often pale blue or turquoise as well as mint green, the "Blue Chromis" refers to another, Royal Blue, species (Chromis cyanea). There may be another pale blue-green chromis, also called the Blue-green, Chromis caerulea, but some say that is the same species which has variations in colour.

The fish has a wide range from reefs of the Indian Ocean, including the Red Sea, to the western Pacific, including Japan to the Great Barrier Reef and New Zealand, and the eastern Pacific from California to Peru. It grows to 10cm long.

Males will turn a little yellower green when ready to breed. He will build a nest, tend and aerate the eggs and guard them until they hatch. Fish aggregate in shoals when not breeding.

Another species - the Black Axil Chromis - looks nearly identical but has a small, light-bordered, black spot where the pectoral fins join the body (see page below).