Amphiprion akallopisos
Pale pink with a white nose stripe, this small clownfish is a reliable find on reefs in Sulawesi, Phuket, and Palawan year-round.
Small, slender clownfish around 7 cm, coloured a soft peachy-pink rather than the bold orange of many relatives. The single white stripe running from the top of the nose along the back to the tail is the key mark, and it lacks the vertical white bars seen on most other anemonefish. Body shape is the typical oval, slightly compressed clownfish profile, usually seen hovering close to its host anemone.
Expect to find it hovering a body-length or two above its host anemone, darting back into the tentacles the moment it feels threatened. It is territorial but small-scale about it, chasing off other small fish rather than divers, and tends to stay put on the same patch of reef dive after dive. Most sightings are on shallow to mid-depth reef flats and slopes rather than deep drop-offs, matching its 3 to 25 m depth range.
Like other anemonefish it lives in a strict social hierarchy inside its host anemone, with a single dominant female, one breeding male, and a queue of smaller non-breeding males waiting their turn to move up if she is lost.
No clear seasonal pattern shows up in the data, and with a comfortable range of 25.8 to 29.8 C it is a year-round resident of the reefs it calls home. Plan around general dive conditions at your chosen site rather than a particular month for this fish.
Reef neighbours a diver could mistake it for. Use the identification notes above to tell them apart.
Most reliably logged across Southeast Asia, with strong numbers in Sulawesi and other parts of Indonesia, Luzon, Palawan and Mindanao in the Philippines, and Phuket and Khao Lak in Thailand. It also turns up well beyond that core range, with decent site counts along the Red Sea Coast of Saudi Arabia, in Egypt, and around Zanzibar in Tanzania.
Mapping where Skunk Clownfish is logged…
Southeast Asia is the stronghold, with Sulawesi and other Indonesian sites, plus Luzon, Palawan and Mindanao in the Philippines and Phuket and Khao Lak in Thailand all producing regular sightings. It is also findable along the Red Sea Coast in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and off Zanzibar in Tanzania.
There is no strong seasonal pattern in sightings, and its preferred water temperature of roughly 26 to 30 C holds year-round on the reefs it inhabits. It is a fish you can reasonably expect on any dive trip to its range, not a seasonal target.
Look for a small, pale pink clownfish, about 7 cm, with a single clean white stripe running from its nose over the top of its head and back, rather than the bold vertical white bars seen on most clownfish species. It sits close to its host anemone and rarely strays far.
They max out around 7 cm, making them one of the smaller anemonefish you'll encounter on a reef. The dominant female in a group is usually the largest individual present.
No. They may dart forward and nip at a fingertip or camera lens if you get too close to their anemone, but this is territorial bluffing rather than any real threat to a diver.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Dascyllus
3,697 sites
