Common Name: Melanesian Saddleback Anemonefish
Scientific Name: Amphiprion laticlavius Cuvier, 1830
Distribution: Melanesia, from Raja Ampat to the Solomon Islands. Possibly into the Northern Coral Sea.
Type Locality: New Guinea
Identification: Caudal fin black, with white margins. Middle stripe abbreviated and sometimes greatly thickened.. Posterior stripe absent. Base color yellow-orange, with extensive black along the back and sides.
Similar: Most like the Northern Saddleback Anemonefish (Amphiprion annamensis), which has a similar middle stripe; however, in that species the middle stripe is typically more thickened, the base color is more brown-orange than yellow-orange, and the melanism is more variable in extent and tends to form first medially (rather than dorsally). Specimens with more-elongated middle stripes can resemble A. polymnus, but the yellow-orange belly allows for identification.
Notes: The oldest name for this species is Amphiprion laticlavius Cuvier & Valenciennes 1830. The type locality is New Guinea, and the accompanying illustration of the type specimens shows a brightly colored belly, confirming that this name refers to the Melanesian, rather than Indonesian, population.
Taxonomy Note: This species was treated as a synonym of Amphiprion polymnus in Allen 1991 and subsequent references. The elevation to full species status used in this classification should be considered provisional until a full taxonomic revision is published.
Amphiprionology 