Taxonomy & naming
Bleeker described the species in 1852 from the Moluccas, and the Catalog of Fishes lists the type locality as Ambon, Wahai and Ceram, Indonesia. It belongs to Ambassidae, the glassfishes or Asiatic glassfishes, a family of small, translucent perch-like fishes of coasts and fresh waters.
Morphology
A translucent, laterally compressed glassfish. FishBase gives a maximum of 5.5 in TL for males or unsexed fish, which is large for the genus. The species name refers to a band on the tail.
Habitat
FishBase lists it as a marine, freshwater and brackish demersal fish, amphidromous, ranging across the tropical Indo-Pacific from East Africa to the Philippines, Fiji and the Carolines, and north to Sagami Bay in Japan. It is common in brackish water near river mouths, where it forms schools, and is sometimes found in upper streams. It is mainly a marine fish that enters rivers.
Feeding
The diet is not documented in the sources available to the atlas. Glassfishes in general take small crustaceans and insects.
Mating
Courtship has not been described for this species.
Breeding
Breeding has not been documented for this species. FishBase classes it as amphidromous, meaning it moves between fresh and salt water at set stages of its life.
In the aquarium
Sold by partner stores as a brackish glassfish. A school in a roomy tank with brackish water, open swimming space and no aggressive tank mates suits it, and a long-term freshwater tank does not. FishBase gives no temperature, pH or hardness range for the species, and the atlas records none.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List classes Ambassis urotaenia as Least Concern, assessed in September 2020. Its range is wide and covers many coastal habitats.