night sergeant
Abudefduf taurus (Müller & Troschel, 1848)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Night Sergeant (Abudefduf taurus)
keesgroenendijk · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Abudefduf taurus, commonly known as the night sergeant, is a species of damselfish in the genus Abudefduf. The species was originally described by Johannes Peter Müller and Franz Hermann Troschel in 1848. It is a large damselfish, reaching 25 centimetres (9.8 in) in total length.
Wikipedia contributors, Abudefduf taurus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:13:49.183148+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Abudefduf taurus (Müller & Troschel, 1848)
- Name authority
- (Müller & Troschel, 1848)
- Common name
- night sergeant
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Family
- Pomacentridae
- Genus
- Abudefduf
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- familyPomacentridae Bonaparte, 1831
- genusAbudefduf Forsskål, 1775
- speciesAbudefduf taurus (Müller & Troschel, 1848)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Abudefduf. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Abudefduf abdominalis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825) | PomacentridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Abudefduf conformis Randall & Earle, 1999 | PomacentridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mexican night sergeantAbudefduf declivifrons (Gill, 1862) | PomacentridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Abudefduf lorenzi Hensley & Allen, 1977 | PomacentridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| pearly sergeantAbudefduf margariteus (Cuvier, 1830) | PomacentridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Natal sergeantAbudefduf natalensis Hensley & Randall, 1983 | PomacentridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| scissortail sergeantAbudefduf sexfasciatus (Lacepède, 1801) | PomacentridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Panamic sergeant majorAbudefduf troschelii (Gill, 1862) | PomacentridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| cow pilotAbudefduf saxatilis (Linnaeus, 1758) | PomacentridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Glyphisodon taurus Müller & Troschel, 1848 Müller & Troschel, 1848 | synonym |
| Nexilarius taurus (Müller & Troschel, 1848) (Müller & Troschel, 1848) | synonym |
| Abudefduf analogus (Gill, 1863) (Gill, 1863) | synonym |
| Euchistodus analogus Gill, 1863 Gill, 1863 | synonym |
| Glyphidodon taurus Müller & Troschel, 1848 Müller & Troschel, 1848 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=273701 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:8MSV. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.