The speed with which individuals can learn to identify and react appropriately to predation threats when transitioning to new life history stages and habitats will influence their survival. This study investigated the role ofchemical alarm cues-in both anti-predator responses and predator identification during a tran- sitional period in a newly settled coral reef damselfish, Pomacentus ambοinensis. Individuals were tested for changes in seven behavioural traits in response to conspecific and heterospecific skin extracts. Addi- tionally, we tested whether fish could learn to associate a previously novel chemical cue (i.e. simulated predator scent) with danger, after previously being exposed to a paired cue combining the conspecific skin extract with the novel scent