Night Sergeant, Abudefduf taurus

Night Sergeant, Abudefduf taurus, Juvenile. Fish caught from within the Sebastian Inlet, Micco, Florida, November 2020. Length: 9.5 cm (3.7 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Ben Cantrell, San Diego, California.

Night Sergeant, Abudefduf taurus. Fish caught off the Channel 5 Bridge (MM 71.4), Florida Keys, Florida, December 2014. Length: 9.6 cm (3.8 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Ben Cantrell, Peoria, Illinois.

Night Sergeant, Abudefduf taurus. Fish caught from coastal waters off Silver Palm Park, Boca Raton, Florida, March 2015. Length: 15.2 cm (6.0 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of George Brinkman, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

Night Sergeant, Abudefduf taurus. Fish caught from within the Hillsburo Inlet, Hillsburo Beach, Florida, July 2019. Length: 21 cm (8.3 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Luke Ovgard, Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Night Sergeant, Abudefduf taurus. Underwater photographs taken with coastal waters off Cozumel Island, Quintana Roo, March 2021. Photographs and identification courtesy of Marina Sutormina, Stockholm, Sweden.

The Night Sergeant, Abudefduf taurus, is a member of the Damselfish or Pomacentridae Family, and is known in Mexico as petaca toro. Globally, there are twenty-five species in the genus Abudefduf, of which four are found in Mexican waters, two in the Atlantic and two in the Pacific Ocean.

The Night Sergeant has a heavily compressed body that has a depth that is 46% to 50% of standard length, thus similar in nature to freshwater bluegills. They are yellowish tan in color with five dark bars on their sides that are wider than the interspaces and a sixth bar on top of their caudal fin base. They have a prominent black spot at the upper base of their pectoral fin. Their head has a steep profile and a small mouth. Their anal fin has 2 spines and 10 rays, their caudal fin is forked with broad lobes, and their dorsal fin is continuous with 13 spines and 11 or 12 rays. The body is heavily covered with scales.

The Night Sergeant is a non-migratory species that is found in shallow water over and within rocky reefs at depths up to 5 m (15 feet). They reach a maximum length of 25.0 cm (9.8 inches) but are most common at a length of 20.0 cm (7.9 inches). They are diurnal feeders consuming primarily algae. Reproduction is oviparous with pairing of individuals; eggs are distributed demersal and adhere to the substrate due to their stickiness. Males guard and aerate the eggs. The Night Sergeant is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.

The Night Sergeant has a wide distribution and is found from the Caribbean to coastal South American and along the West Coast of Africa, however, in Mexico, they are found only around the Yucatán Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.

The Night Sergeant, due to its barring pattern, cannot be easily confused with any other species. The Mexican Night Sergeant, due to its coloration and body shape cannot easily be confused with any other species, however, it is virtually identical to the Mexican Night Sergeant, Abudefduf declivifrons  (found only in the Pacific Ocean).

From a conservation perspective the Night Sergeant is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are small in stature but are considered an excellent food fish and sold fresh commercially. They are classic nibblers, thus difficult to catch by hook and line.