Spiny puller
Acanthochromis polyacanthus
Illustration: Bloom by Day
A plain damselfish in white, grey or near-black depending on where you are — the Queensland form is dark brown-grey with a pale tail. It is the only damselfish that raises its young: a pair with a hovering cloud of miniatures over one coral head is almost certainly this.
how to recognise it
- a highly variable colour pattern, in combinations of white, black and grey — the drawing is the dark form (FoA: whitish to all brown or dark grey, sometimes with a white tail)
- the body shape of a sergeant, but WITHOUT the vertical bars
- often seen as a pair with a cloud of young: it is the only damselfish whose eggs hatch into juveniles that stay with the parents for weeks
- about 14 cm
Field marks read from Reef Life Survey and Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-16. Our wording, their facts. Max size 14 cm.
facts
- habitat
- reef
- size
- ~11 cm, to 14 cm
Max size from Reef Life Survey (14 cm); the typical size is Bluebird’s, not from a cited source
- records
- 2115 at 13 spot(s), none of
them in this region
Recorded at Lizard Island — Cod Wall, Cod Hole (Ribbon Reefs GBR), Low Isles (Port Douglas), Green Island (Cairns), Fitzroy Island (Cairns), Magnetic Island — Geoffrey Bay, Bait Reef (Whitsundays), Hayman Island — Blue Pearl Bay, Hook Island — Manta Ray Bay, Tongue Bay (Whitsunday — North), Great Keppel Island (East), Great Keppel Island (West), Erskine Island. A count of occurrence records, not abundance. Records are where someone looked.
when it has been recorded
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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.