Domino

About this species

The threespot dascyllus, also known as the domino damsel or simply domino, is a species of damselfish from the family Pomacentridae. It is native to the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea and East Africa, to the Pitcairn Islands, southern Japan, and Australia, and can also be found in some parts of the Philippines.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Threespot 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: 397 records
February: 352 records
March: 623 records
April: 769 records
May: 659 records
June: 880 records
July: 750 records
August: 509 records
September: 657 records
October: 678 records
November: 545 records
December: 421 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 4–23 m · Deepest record: 1,518 m

0–10 m: 730 records
10–20 m: 539 records
20–30 m: 310 records
30–40 m: 18 records
40–50 m: 6 records
50–60 m: 6 records
60–70 m: 2 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 1 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 4 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

20–22 °C: 3 records
22–24 °C: 4 records
24–26 °C: 43 records
26–28 °C: 101 records
28–30 °C: 209 records

Photos

(c) Izuzuki, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Michael Eisen, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Mike Burnett, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Rui Ribeiro, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Domino, Threespot dascyllus, domino, domino damselfish, Three-spot Damsel, Threespot Damselfish, threespot dascyllus, Three-spot Dascyllus, Three-spot Dascyllus, Threespot dascyllus, threespot humbug, Three-spot Humbug, whitespot humbug

Names in 3 more languages

French: Demoiselle à trois taches, Domino Noir
Japanese: Mitsuboshikurosuzumedai, ミツボシクロスズメダイ
Simplified Chinese: 三斑圓雀鯛, 三斑宅泥魚, 三斑宅泥鱼, 三點白, 厚殼仔

Other scientific names: Dascyllus axillaris, Dascyllus niger, Dascyllus trimaculatum, Dascyllus unicolor, Pomacentrus nuchalis, Pomacentrus trimaculatus, Sparus nigricans

Similar species

Banded dascyllus
Dascyllus aruanus
Reticulate dascyllus
Dascyllus reticulatus
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).
5,365 open-data records from 1829 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.