Sebae Clownfish Identification Guide

Key identification features

• Body dark brown to blackish overall
• Two straight white bars: one behind the eye and one at mid-body, occasionally with a faint third bar near the tail base
• Yellow to pale cream ventral, anal, and pectoral fins
• Pale yellow to whitish tail fin
• Moderate size, growing to about 5-6 inches (13-16 cm)

Common look-alikes

• Saddleback clownfish has a single diagonal saddle-shaped mark sweeping across the body instead of straight, evenly placed bars.
• Clark's anemonefish has three crisp white bars but a more orange-toned body and black-tipped fins rather than pale yellow ones.
• Cinnamon clownfish shows only one white head bar with no additional body bars, unlike the multi-barred sebae clownfish.

Where you'll see one

Sebae clownfish live on reef slopes and lagoons across the northern Indian Ocean, particularly around India, Sri Lanka, and the Andaman Sea. They are strongly associated with the haddon's carpet anemone, which they host over sand or rubble patches near the reef edge, rarely straying from its protective tentacles.