South African Fish: Sergeant Major (Abudefduf vaigiensis)

All You Need To Know About The Sergeant Major Fish

The Sergeant Major is a very intriguing South African fish that is often called the Coral Fish or Five Banded Damselfish. The colours on this beautiful fish are variable; yellow's, brown's, blue's, grey's and black can be found on the Sergeant Major fish.

The Coral Fish has no catching restrictions and can grow up to, or more, 30 centimeters in length. The Five Banded Damselfish is found in all sorts of inshore reefs and is commonly caught around piers and jetty's in harbours. Juvenile Seargeant Major fish frequent shallow tidal pools. These pools act as nurseries. The adult members of this fish species prefer deeper water, although I have caught some adult species in fairly shallow tidal pools! No records exist for this fish.

The omnivorous and diurnal Sergeant Major fish forms small shoals and likes to hang around turbulent rocky reefs. The Sergeant Major is in the Damselfish family (Hence it's other name: Five Banded Damselfish) and has a complex social structure. These fish even have a home range and permanent nesting site. This fish species is edible, although not many people in South Africa do eat it. It is used as a common sushi dish in Japan. The Sergeant Major is a good aquarium fish and adapts very easily to it's home made environment. It is however a very aggressive little fish and if kept in a fish tank it will attack other fish. Below is a picture of a very blue coloured Sergeant Major...

How To Catch The South African Sergeant Major Fish

The Seargeant Major is quite an uncommon catch in South Africa. When exclusively targeting the Sergeant Major in an angling sense the best way to catch this fish would be with baits such as Squid (Chokka) or fish cutlets. Unfortunately I can't go more into the subject of catching the Seargeant Major fish as I have only ever caught 2... Both of them on Chokka, using very small hooks. I caught these fish in a large rock pool about 7 feet deep.

The Seargeant Major is a beautiful fish and 2when you think you have hooked one of these delightful salt water fish species, be careful not to get cut off by the many rocks and corals that surround their natural habitat!

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