The Tufi Damsellfish is an unidentified species of damselfish which was recently discovered by fishermen working for the Seasmart Program in Papua New Guinea. The Tufi damselfish was collected from Tufi in Oro Province of Papua New Guinea by the same fishermen who also brought us the Lightning Maroon Clownfish.
The PNG Tufi damselfish inhabits shallow to deep reefs, patch reefs and the fjords where it likes to stay close to tightly growing coral branches of birdnest and Anacropora coral. The Tufi damselfish is believed to be a Pomacentrus species but other genera are not being ruled out and it is very possible that the Tufi damselfish is a yet undescribed species. Along the same line of novelty,
Seasmart is also catching small numbers of white bonnet clownfish, Amphiprion leucokranos which is very different from those from the Solomon Islands. SI white cap clowns are usually much more pink in body color but the PNG white cap have a distinct orange body color. The leucokranos clownfish from PNG are few and far between but we have gotten word that the first batch of Tufi damselfish are already on their way to marine livestock wholesalers in L.A. and Sea Dwelling Creatures, Quality Marine and Pacific Aqua Farms should hopefully be stocking the species soon.
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