Azores chromis
Fish · Last reviewed 2026-08-25
The pale damselfish of Macaronesian rock — the second of the two fula, and the one that made an unidentifiable 'damselfish' in a trip report resolvable.
Catching Azores chromis
Everything here on fishing for it. Each entry opens the page behind it.
- Ground
- When
- May — months recorded at the places that document it, not a season for the whole range.
- Where
- 1 place FishingHQ documents — strongest claim anywhere: recorded here · From the shore
Where the fula negra is dark and deep, the fula blanca is pale and slimmer, with a distinctly forked tail and dark margins to the fins that give the species its name. It is a *Chromis* — the same genus as the Mediterranean damselfish — and it holds in the water column above rock rather than tight against it, feeding on what drifts past.
It is a Macaronesian and West African fish, recorded from the Azores, Madeira and the Canaries and along the African coast between Senegal and Congo, in reef-associated water from about 5 to 45 m. That depth band is slightly deeper than its dark cousin's, which is a useful field fact: a damselfish caught from the water immediately beside a rockpool is usually the fula negra, and one taken from the deeper water off a pier end or a ledge is more often this.
Knowing there are two matters more than it sounds. A Lanzarote trip report recorded `damselfish` among the species landed at the Puerto del Carmen pier and got no further, and a bare `damselfish` in Canary water is genuinely ambiguous between them. A species-hunting angler on the same coast counted them apart — thirteen of these against twenty-five of the other in one week — and that separation is what turned an unusable line in one source into two records here.
For fishing it behaves as its relative does: small soft plastics and scraps fished in midwater beside structure, on hooks small enough to fit a small mouth.
Where Azores chromis is documented
Places where public sources describe this species as fished, with how it is fished and how strongly the evidence supports it. This is not a range map and it is not a recommendation — it is what has been written down about a fishery rather than a record of any individual catch, and being listed is never permission to fish.
Lanzarote
1 documented place
Puerto del Carmen harbour, Lanzarote
Harbour wall
Recorded here
From the shore
Reported May
What these strengths mean
- Recorded here
- At least one credible public account of this species being caught here. That is all it means.
Identification
No photograph of Azores chromis has passed identity review yet, so none is shown. FishingHQ publishes a species photograph only once somebody has confirmed the animal in it against the species record’s own diagnostic features.
- Scientific name
- Chromis limbata
- Family
- Pomacentridae
- Water
- Saltwater
- Conservation status
- Least Concern
- Regions
- Western Europe, West Africa
- Pale grey-brown to fawn body, much lighter than the Canary damselfish it shares rock with.
- A distinctly forked tail — the Canary damselfish's is not forked in the same way, and at a glance this is the quickest separation.
- Dark margins along the edges of the fins, which is what the species name refers to.
- Slimmer and less deep-bodied than the Canary damselfish, and slightly smaller: FishBase records a maximum of 12 cm.
- Usually holding in the water column above rock rather than pressed against it, and typically in slightly deeper water.
Size
- Typical
- 7–10 cm
- Large
- 11 cm and over
Exceptional: FishBase records a maximum of 12 cm
Lifecycle and reproduction
Reef-associated and non-migratory over a depth range of 5 to 45 m, which puts its shallow edge at a pier end or a ledge and its deeper range beyond a shore rod. High resilience.
Not separately documented on the FishBase record. Chromis species generally spawn demersal eggs on cleared rock with male guarding, and that general pattern is not asserted here as a fact about this species.
Feeding and senses
Feeds on small planktonic and drifting invertebrates taken from the water column above rock, which is the *Chromis* habit and the reason it sits off the bottom rather than on it. Baits fished hard on the seabed miss it; baits suspended a metre or two up do not.
A daylight visual feeder in clear water, keyed to small moving items drifting past at its own level. Presentation depth matters more for this fish than presentation type.
Through the year
Resident and non-migratory year-round throughout Macaronesia, which is what makes the archipelagos' light shore fishing a twelve-month proposition rather than a summer one. Nothing about this fish's availability changes with the calendar; what changes is the swell that decides whether the mark can be fished at all.
Distribution
Eastern Atlantic: including the Azores, Madeira, and the Canary Islands; also reported from west Africa between Senegal and Pointe Noire, Congo
This is a biological range — where the species occurs, not a prediction that you will catch one. To browse the fishing geography FishingHQ holds, start at fishing places.
Why anglers care
A light-rock-fishing species and a species hunter's fish, taken on small soft plastics and scraps of bait fished in midwater from pier ends and rock ledges in the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores. Its real significance here is diagnostic: it is the second of the two fula, and knowing there are two is what stops a Canary catch record saying `damselfish` and meaning nothing.
Handling and returning
A very small fish. Crushed barbs, small hooks, wet hands, and unhook in the water. There is no reason to lift one out at all beyond identifying it.
Where to go next
Similar and related fish
Where it lives
More fish
Not related to this page — just the rest of the section. There is little else joined to this subject yet, and a short page should still lead somewhere.
Sources and evidence
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Family, maximum size, depth range, environment, distribution and the IUCN assessment for Chromis limbata.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The Least Concern assessment for Chromis limbata, assessed 15 November 2010.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- REDPROMAR — the Canary Government's marine observation and species network — Gobierno de Canarias, Consejería de Transición Ecológica — REDPROMAR, with GRAFCAN (Conservation authority)Relied on for: That this species is recorded in Canary waters by the regional government's marine observation network, and the Canarian vernacular name it files it under.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- Species hunting adventures on Lanzarote — a four-part shore diary with a full tally — Something Fishy Going On (angling blog), parts also posted to World Sea Fishing, 2014 (Practitioner report)Relied on for: That this species is taken from named public shore marks on Lanzarote, how many were caught across one week in May, and the light-tackle methods and baits that took them.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Why the 3 connections on this page are here, and the sources
Similar and related fish
Backed by research — 1 connection
Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.
Canary damselfish
Both are Macaronesian pomacentrids on the same rock. Similiparma lurida, the fula negra, is dark blue-black, deep-bodied and recorded from 0 to 25 m; Chromis limbata, the fula blanca, is pale, slimmer, forked-tailed and recorded from 5 to 45 m. A trip report naming only `damselfish` is unresolvable between them, which is exactly what happened to one.
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: The morphology, size, depth range and distribution that separate these two species from one another.States this directlyPassage read and verified
How it is caught
Reported, not established — 1 connection
Reported, but without independent support. Recorded because it is in circulation, not because it has been shown to hold.
Light rock fishing
Recorded thirteen times over the week on light drop-shot tackle from a pier and its rockpools. Because it feeds in the water column rather than on the bottom, the presentation depth is what separates catching it from catching the other fula.
- Species hunting adventures on Lanzarote — a four-part shore diary with a full tally — Something Fishy Going On (angling blog), parts also posted to World Sea Fishing, 2014 (Practitioner report)Relied on for: The light-tackle methods, rigs, lures, baits and hook sizes a species-hunting angler used on Lanzarote, and the species each took.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Where it lives
Backed by research — 1 connection
Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.
Rocky shores and reefs
Recorded as reef-associated and non-migratory from 5 to 45 m — shallow enough at its upper edge for a pier end, and generally deeper than the Canary damselfish's band.
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Environment, depth range, habitat association and distribution for Chromis limbata.States this directlyPassage read and verified
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.