Examination of the two syntypes of Heliases caeruleus Cuvier, 1830 (MNHN 5644) revealed them to be a pomacentrid fish long identified as Chromis ternatensis (Bleeker, 1853). The valid name for the wide-ranging, blue-green Chromis, which has been known as C. caerulea, is C. viridis (Cuvier, 1830), based on colour painting by Ehrenberg of a fish from Massaua, Red Sea.