Black-vent damsel
Dischistodus melanotus
- Usual depth1–10 m
- Water temperature24–30 °C
- Best monthsJuly, September, and October
- How commonOccasional
Photo credit: (c) Rickard Zerpe, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
Dischistodus melanotus, commonly known as the black-vent damsel, is a species of fish found in the western Pacific Ocean.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Dischistodus melanotus”, 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: 52 records
- February: 68 records
- March: 74 records
- April: 67 records
- May: 72 records
- June: 87 records
- July: 142 records
- August: 81 records
- September: 117 records
- October: 129 records
- November: 82 records
- December: 52 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 1–10 m · Deepest record: 29 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 24–30 °C
Photos
(c) Lawrence Hylton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Bernard DUPONT, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) desertnaturalist, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Rolf Lawrenz, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Black-vent damsel, Blackvent Damsel
Names in 3 more languages
- French
- Demoiselle à capuchon
- Japanese
- セグロスズメダイ
- Simplified Chinese
- 厚殼仔, 黑斑盘雀鲷, 黑斑盤雀鯛
Other scientific names: Dischistodus notophthalmus, Dischistodus notopthalmus, Pomacentrus melanotus, Pomacentrus notophthalmus, Pomacentrus suluensis
Similar species
Two-barred PullerDischistodus perspicillatus
Honey-breast DamselDischistodus prosopotaenia
Pale-spot DamselDischistodus chrysopoecilus
Banded DamselDischistodus fasciatus
Monarch DamselDischistodus pseudochrysopoecilus
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).
- 828 open-data records from 1908 to 2023.
- Species data updated October 26, 2026.
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