---
title: Black Damselfish (Neoglyphidodon melas)
scientific_name: Neoglyphidodon melas
common_name: Black Damselfish
taxon: Pomacentridae
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2024-11-14T21:57:33.692Z
updated: 2026-08-13T07:10:49.671Z
tags: Black Damselfish, Neoglyphidodon melas, Pomacentridae, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/pomacentridae/black-damselfish
---

# Black Damselfish (*Neoglyphidodon melas*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Pomacentridae (*Pomacentridae*)
- **Size:** up to 18 cm
- **Depth:** 1-36 m
- **Diet:** Corallivore
- **Activity:** Diurnal
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Coral-rich reef and lagoons, close to soft corals
- **Reproduction:** Egg layer, Gonochoric
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- adults uniformly sooty black, sometimes with a faint blue sheen on the fins
- juveniles bright yellow with electric blue lines over the head and back
- usually within a body length of a soft coral colony
- length up to 18 cm

An adult is a plain sooty black damselfish with a faint blue sheen. A juvenile is bright yellow with electric blue lines across the head and back, and looks so unlike the adult that the two were long assumed to be different species. The change is gradual and a half-grown fish shows both patterns at once.

It eats soft coral. Where most damselfish farm algae or pick plankton, this one bites the polyps off leathery soft corals - a food nothing much competes for, because those corals are loaded with defensive compounds. That is also why the fish is always found within a body length of a colony.

Juveniles are territorial and conspicuous; adults are territorial and drab, which is the usual damselfish trajectory - the bright pattern advertises to rivals when the fish is small enough to need it and becomes a liability once it is worth eating.

Eggs are laid on a cleaned patch of hard surface and guarded by the male, who fans them and attacks anything that approaches, divers included. He will not hurt you; he will not stop trying either.

## Also known as

- **English:** Bowtie Damselfish, Blue And Gold Damsel-fish, Blue and Gold Damselfish
- **Hebrew:** דפדופון משחיר
- **French:** Boeteur Noir, Demoiselle noire
- **German:** Schwarzer Riffbarsch
- **Spanish:** Damisela negra
- **Portuguese:** Donzela-de-gravata
- **Czech:** útesník černý
- **Japanese:** クロスズメダイ, Kurosuzumedai
- **Chinese:** 黑新刻齒雀鯛
- **Russian:** Чёрная леопольдита
- **CA:** Damisel·la de corbata
- **TH:** ปลาตะกรับหัวเหลือง

## Scientific synonyms

- *Abudefduf melanopus* (Bleeker, 1856)
- *Abudefduf melas* (Cuvier, 1830)
- *Abudefduf rhomaleus* Snyder, 1911
- *Abudefduf xanthonotus* (Bleeker, 1859)
- *Glyphisodon ater* Cuvier, 1830
- *Glyphisodon melanopus* Bleeker, 1856
- *Glyphisodon melas* Cuvier, 1830
- *Glyphisodon xanthonotus* Bleeker, 1859
- *Paraglyphidodon melanopus* (Bleeker, 1856)
- *Paraglyphidodon melas* (Cuvier, 1830)
- *Paraglyphipodon melas* (Cuvier, 1830)

## Range

Kenya, Mozambique, Seychelles

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*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/pomacentridae/black-damselfish)*
*Updated: August 13, 2026*