Original description as Sarotherodon melanotheron:
ZooBank:58828FE0-E167-49A8-ADBF-F6CFFE50DD07.
- Rüppell, Wilhelm Peter Eduard Simon. 1852. "Vierte Abtheilung, Fische und deren Skelette". Verzeichniss der in dem Museum der Senckenbergischen naturforschenden Gesellschaft aufgestellten Sammlungen, Frankfurt am Main. 1-40 (crc00688)
Synonyms (2):
- Labrus melagaster Bloch , 1792, with type locality at Africa. Determiner: Paepke, 1999
- Chromis macrocephalus Bleeker, 1862, with type locality at Ashantee, Guinea. Determiner: Trewavas & Teugels, 1991
- Chromis microcephalus Günther, 1862, with type locality at Ghana. Determiner: Trewavas & Teugels, 1991
- Melanogenes macrocephalus Bleeker , 1863, with type locality at Ashantee, Guinea. Determiner: Trewavas & Teugels, 1991
- Melanogenes microcephalus Bleeker, 1863, with type locality at Ashantee, Guinea.
Sub-species:
- Sarotherodon melanotheron heudelotii (Dumeril, 1859)
- Sarotherodon melanotheron leonensis (Thys van den Audenaerde, 1971)
- Trewavas, 1983
Conservation: Sarotherodon melanotheron is not evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species.