Fleckfin dottyback

Pseudoplesiops wassi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Pseudochromidae
Subfamily:	Pseudoplesiopinae
Genus:	Pseudoplesiops
Species:	P. wassi
Binomial name
Pseudoplesiops wassi Gill & Edwards, 2003

The fleckfin dottyback, Pseudoplesiops wassi, is a species of dottyback fish. It is found associated with coral reefs and other rocky coastal habitats in a large part of the south-western Pacific including the Great Barrier Reef, the Coral Sea, the Caroline Islands, the Bismarck Archipelago, Vanuatu, Fiji, Rotuma, Tonga, Samoa, and the Solomon Islands.

This rather variable but always brilliantly coloured species shares with Pseudoplesiops collare a higher number (14) of precaudal vertebrae than other members of the genus and differs markedly from that species in colour, having prominent blue spots at the base of the dorsal and anal fins. Pseudoplesiops wassi grows to around 30 mm standard length.

References

• Pseudoplesiops wassi, a new species of dottyback fish (Teleostei: Pseudochromidae: Pseudoplesiopinae) from the West Pacific. A.C. Gill & A.J. Edwards