Amphiprion mccullochi, also known as whitesnout anemonefish or McCulloch's anemonefish, is a species of anemonefish found in subtropical waters at Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island.^[2]. It was named for Allan McCulloch, a former Curator of Fishes at the Australian Museum, Sydney.^[3] Like all anemonefishes it forms a symbiotic mutualism with sea anemones and is unaffected by the stinging tentacles of the host anemone. It is a sequential hermaphrodite with a strict sized based dominance hierarchy: the female is largest, the breeding male is second largest, and the male non-breeders get progressively smaller as the hierarchy descends.^[4] They exhibit protandry, meaning the breeding male will change to female if the sole breeding female dies, with the largest non-breeder becomes the breeding male.^[2]

Quick Facts Amphiprion mccullochi, Conservation status ...

Amphiprion mccullochi
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Family:	Pomacentridae
Genus:	Amphiprion
Species:	A. mccullochi
Binomial name
Amphiprion mccullochi Whitely 1929

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A. mccullochi is dark brown with a pale snout, a white bar on each side of the head (but not connected on top of the head) and a pale tail. Juveniles have two white bars and the edge of the pectoral fins is yellow. They have 10 dorsal spines, 2 anal spines, 15-17 dorsal soft rays and 13-14 anal soft rays.^[5] They reach a maximum length of 12 cm (4+3⁄4 in).^[2]

A. mccullochi is endemic to the south western Pacific ocean at Lord Howe Island, Middleton Reef, Elizabeth Reef and Norfolk Island.^[2]

Anemonefish and their host anemones are found on coral reefs and face similar environmental issues. Like corals, anemone's contain intracellular endosymbionts, zooxanthellae, and can suffer from bleaching due to triggers such as increased water temperature or acidification. Characteristics known to elevate the risk of extinction are small geographic range, small local population and extreme habitat specialisation.^[8][9] The small geographic range, small local population and extreme habitat specialisation (it only associates with Entacmaea quadricolor) are all characteristics known to elevate the risk of extinction making A. mccullochi of particular conservation concern.^[6] This species was not evaluated in the 2012 release of the IUCN Red List

The specific name honours Whitley's colleague, the Australian ichthyologist Allan Riverstone McCulloch (1885-1925) who collected the type specimen.^[10]

This species has bred in captivity.^[11][12]