Banded dascyllus

Dascyllus aruanus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth1–12 m
Water temperature20–30 °C
Best monthsJuly and October
How commonCommon

Photo credit: (c) dr.scott.mills, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

About this species

Dascyllus aruanus, known commonly as the whitetail dascyllus or humbug damselfish among other vernacular names, is a species of marine fish in the family Pomacentridae.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Whitetail dascyllus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 183 records
February: 246 records
March: 414 records
April: 391 records
May: 324 records
June: 343 records
July: 729 records
August: 404 records
September: 403 records
October: 518 records
November: 350 records
December: 200 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–12 m · Deepest record: 182.9 m

0–10 m: 1,326 records
10–20 m: 363 records
20–30 m: 27 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

20–22 °C: 1 records
22–24 °C: 8 records
24–26 °C: 54 records
26–28 °C: 215 records
28–30 °C: 186 records

Photos

(c) João D'Andretta, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Gregor Bailar, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Geoff Shuetrim, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Bruce Deagle, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Banded dascyllus, Whitetail dascyllus, banded dascyllus, banded humbug, black and white damselfish, black-and-white damselfish, Humbug, humbug damselfish, Humbug Dascyllus, threestripe damselfish, Three-stripe Damselfish, Whitetail Damselfish, Whitetail dascyllus, whitetail dascyllus, White-tailed Damselfish, White-tailed Footballer, Zebra Humbug

Names in 6 more languages

German: Dreibinden-Preußenfisch
Spanish: Damisela de tres Bandas
French: Demoiselle à queue blanche, Demoiselle à trois bandes noires
Japanese: Misujiryukyusuzumedai, ミスジリュウキュウスズメダイ
Thai: ปลาสลิดหินม้าลาย
Simplified Chinese: 三帶圓雀鯛, 三帶圓雀鯛(三間雀), 三間雀, 厚殼仔, 宅泥魚, 宅泥鱼

Other scientific names: Abudefduf caroli, Chaetodon arcuanus, Chaetodon aruanus, Dascyllus arnanus, Dascyllus blochii, Pomacentrus devisi, Pomacentrus emamo, Pomacentrus trifasciatus, Tetradrachmum arcuatum, Tetradrachmum aruanum

Similar species

Reticulate dascyllus
Dascyllus reticulatus
Domino
Dascyllus trimaculatus
black damselfish
Dascyllus flavicaudus
Blackbordered dascyllus
Dascyllus marginatus
Blacktail Damselfish
Dascyllus melanurus
Cow pilot
Abudefduf saxatilis

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
5,089 open-data records from 1758 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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