Bengal sergeant
Abudefduf bengalensis
Illustration: Bloom by Day
A pale grey-white sergeant ruled with six or seven narrow black bars and carrying no yellow at all, with rounded tail lobes. It keeps to shallow rocky and coral edges, often in small groups, and is the sergeant you are looking at when the bars seem too many and too thin.
how to recognise it
- whitish to pale greyish, with NO yellow
- six or seven narrow black bands on the body
- distinctly rounded tail lobes
don’t confuse with
- Indo-Pacific sergeant — the Indo-Pacific sergeant has five BROAD bars and a yellowish wash on the upper head and side
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-16. Our wording, their facts. Max size 17 cm TL.
facts
- habitat
- reef
- size
- ~13 cm, to 17 cm
Max size from Fishes of Australia (17 cm TL); the typical size is Bluebird’s, not from a cited source
- records near here
- 20 at 1 of 6 spots
A count of occurrence records near these spots, not abundance. Records are where someone looked.
when it has been recorded
JFMAMJJASOND
A gap means no record in the sample, not absence.
the rule
no QLD rule listed — check before you dive
no NSW rule listed — check before you dive
no closed season recorded for this species — that is not the same as open; check the official page
Rules checked 2026-10-13 against qld.gov.au
Rules change. Check before you dive.
Occurrence data: Atlas of Living Australia (ala.org.au), CC-BY 4.0.
Diver transect counts: Reef Life Survey (reeflifesurvey.com), CC-BY 4.0, supplied via ALA.
Target and protected species: Queensland tidal-water size and possession limits (qld.gov.au) and NSW saltwater bag and size limits plus threatened species lists (dpird.nsw.gov.au).
Habitat and size: Bluebird, approximate, from general knowledge. Not cited. FishBase is CC BY-NC and this app is commercial, so it is not used.
Description written for Bloom. RECORDS ARE WHERE SOMEONE LOOKED, NOT WHERE THE FISH ARE. A record count is a count of records near here and nothing else -- it is not abundance, and a species with few records is not rare. Absence of records is not absence of fish.
Diver transect counts: Reef Life Survey (reeflifesurvey.com), CC-BY 4.0, supplied via ALA.
Target and protected species: Queensland tidal-water size and possession limits (qld.gov.au) and NSW saltwater bag and size limits plus threatened species lists (dpird.nsw.gov.au).
Habitat and size: Bluebird, approximate, from general knowledge. Not cited. FishBase is CC BY-NC and this app is commercial, so it is not used.
Description written for Bloom. RECORDS ARE WHERE SOMEONE LOOKED, NOT WHERE THE FISH ARE. A record count is a count of records near here and nothing else -- it is not abundance, and a species with few records is not rare. Absence of records is not absence of fish.