Seven species of the glassfish genus Ambassis occur in brackish to marine habitats of the western Indian Ocean, mostly along sandy shores, mangrove stands and in estuaries. The earliest available name for an ambassid, Lutjanus gymnocephalus Lacépède, 1802, has presented nomenclatural problems and is designated a nomen dubium. The ambassid species in the area, from the southern tip of India to southeastern Africa, including all intervening islands, are: A. dussumieri (East Africa to China), A. fontoynonti (endemic to eastern Madagascar), A. urotaenia (Indo-West Pacific, but not known from coastal Africa), A. interrupta (western India to southwestern Pacific islands), A. nalua (western India and throughout Australasia), and A. ambassis and A. natalensis, both East Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius and Réunion (the latter unconfirmed for A. natalensis).