Common Name: Mediterranean chromis

Scientific Names: Chromis chromis

Description: A small fish, usually no more than 6-8cm. It has an oval body with a relatively large, scissor-like tail. It ranges in colour as an adult from dark blue to brown. It has a golden coloured circle around the eye.

Distinctive Features: The blue-brown colour and golden eye ring, huge shoals in the water column.

Abundance: Found in shoals ranging from 10’s, to 100’s to 1000’s at particular sites. At every site and on every dive.

Habitat & Behaviour: They live in the water column and are often seen adjacent to rocky reefs in huge numbers; they can also occur in the water column in shallow bays. The adults lay their eggs on the reef and the juvenile which are an intense iridescent blue, live in shoals under overhangs and in gaps and caves between rocks.

Reaction to Snorkellers & Divers: Indifferent to snorkellers and divers and will come closer if you remain still, which will allow you to see the beautiful gold colour of the eye.

Other Notes: From a distance they often appear as shoals of small black fish and their predominantly brown (adults) colour and dark-edged scales are only apparent when close and in photographs.

Text: Bob Earll
Photo: Russell & Gill Bennett
Video: Bob Earll