Blacktail Damselfish
Dascyllus melanurus
- Usual depth1–60 m
- Water temperature23–30 °C
- Best monthsApril, June, and October
- How commonRare
Photo credit: (c) Rickard Zerpe, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
Dascyllus melanurus, known commonly as the four stripe damselfish, blacktail dascyllus, humbug damselfish, blacktail damselfish, and blacktail humbug, is a species of fish in the family Pomacentridae. It is native to the western Pacific Ocean. It is sometimes kept as an aquarium pet.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Dascyllus melanurus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 33 records
- February: 31 records
- March: 41 records
- April: 55 records
- May: 41 records
- June: 47 records
- July: 41 records
- August: 35 records
- September: 34 records
- October: 62 records
- November: 37 records
- December: 38 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 1–60 m · Deepest record: 68 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 23–30 °C
Photos
(c) Rickard Zerpe, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Tom Heijnen, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) libby hepburn, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Ditch Townsend, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Blacktail Damselfish, Blacktail Dascyllus, Black-tailed dascyllus, Black-tailed Humbug, Blacktailed Humbug, blacktail humbug, Black-tail Humbug, fourstripe damselfish
Names in 5 more languages
- German
- Schwarzschwanz-Preußenfisch
- Spanish
- Damisela de cola negra
- French
- Demoiselle à queue noire
- Japanese
- Yosujiryukyusuzumedai, ヨスジリュウキュウスズメダイ
- Simplified Chinese
- 厚殼仔, 黑尾圓雀鯛, 黑尾宅泥魚, 黑尾宅泥鱼
Other scientific names: Dascullus melanurus, Pomacentrus onyx
Similar species
Banded dascyllusDascyllus aruanus
Reticulate dascyllusDascyllus reticulatus
DominoDascyllus trimaculatus
black damselfishDascyllus flavicaudus
Blackbordered dascyllusDascyllus marginatus
Cow pilotAbudefduf 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).
- 254 open-data records from 1854 to 2023.
- Species data updated October 26, 2026.
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