Pseudodax moluccanus (Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes 1840 )

Andréfouët, Serge, Chen, Wei-Jen, Kinch, Jeff, Mana, Ralph, Russell, Barry C., Tully, Dean & White, William T., 2019, Checklist of the marine and estuarine fishes of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, western Pacific Ocean, with 810 new records, Zootaxa 4588 (1), pp. 1-360 : 237

Pseudodax moluccanus (Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes 1840) —Chiseltooth wrasse

Status at New Ireland. First recorded from New Ireland by Allen & Erdmann (2012: 714). A specimen photographed at Lissenung Island , Kavieng District , 16 m depth, by Dean Tully on 25 Sept. 2015; a video of a specimen taken at Nubilus Island, off eastern New Hanover, at 3–32 m depth, St. KR 88, in 2014 (identified by Barry C. Russell).

Distribution and habitat. New Ireland: 1, 2.—General distribution: Red Sea, East Africa and KwaZulu-Natal ( South Africa), Madagascar and western Mascarenes east to Marquesas and Tuamotu islands, north to southern Japan and Ogasawara Islands, south to New Caledonia and Tonga. Found in clear channels and seaward coral reefs; juveniles common along drop-offs; adults usually near caves while juveniles frequently live inside them, 3–60 m depth. Marine.