---
title: Chocolatedip Chromis (Pycnochromis dimidiatus)
scientific_name: Pycnochromis dimidiatus
common_name: Chocolatedip Chromis
taxon: Pomacentridae
published: 2026-08-09T21:03:20.228Z
updated: 2026-08-09T21:50:32.148Z
tags: Chocolatedip Chromis, Pycnochromis dimidiatus, Pomacentridae, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/pomacentridae/chocolatedip-chromis
---

# Chocolatedip Chromis (*Pycnochromis dimidiatus*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Pomacentridae (*Pomacentridae*)
- **Size:** up to 6 cm
- **Depth:** 1-15 m
- **Diet:** Planktivore
- **Activity:** Diurnal
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Shallow coral heads and reef flats
- **Reproduction:** Egg layer, Gonochoric

## How to recognise it

- front half dark brown, rear half and tail white
- division between the two colours sharp and vertical
- in groups over branching coral in the shallows
- length up to 6 cm

A small chromis divided cleanly in two: the front half dark chocolate brown, the rear half and tail white, with the boundary running vertically down the body. About 6 cm (2.4 in), and unmistakable at a glance in a family where most species are grey.

It lives in groups over branching coral on shallow reef flats and upper slopes, feeding on plankton and dropping into the coral when threatened - the whole group vanishing into the branches at once and reappearing a few seconds later. Eggs are laid on a cleared patch of hard bottom and guarded by the male. The species is common in the shallows here and often shares a coral head with damselfishes of several other species, all of them keeping their own vertical band of water above the same colony.

## Also known as

- **English:** Red Sea Half-and-half Chromis, Bicolor Damselfish, chocolatedip chromis
- **Hebrew:** כרומית דו-גונית
- **French:** Chromis bicolore de Mer Rouge
- **Italian:** Castagnola bipartita
- **German:** Zweifarben-Riffbarsch
- **Portuguese:** Donzela-bicolor-do-Mar-Vermelho
- **Dutch:** Bruinwit juffertje
- **Czech:** sapín dvoubarevný
- **Russian:** Хромис двухцветный
- **CA:** Castanyoleta bicolor del Mar Roja
- **DA:** Chokolade-jomfrufisk
- **TH:** ปลาสลิดหินตาโต

## Scientific synonyms

- *Chromis dimidata* (Klunzinger, 1871)
- *Chromis dimidiata* (Klunzinger, 1871)
- *Chromis dimidiate* (Klunzinger, 1871)
- *Chromis dimidiatus* (Klunzinger, 1871)
- *Heliastes dimidiatus* Klunzinger, 1871

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/pomacentridae/chocolatedip-chromis)*
*Updated: August 9, 2026*