---
title: Jewel Damsel (Stegastes lacrymatus)
scientific_name: Stegastes lacrymatus
common_name: Jewel Damsel
taxon: Pomacentridae
published: 2026-08-09T21:03:20.236Z
updated: 2026-08-09T21:56:29.891Z
tags: Jewel Damsel, Stegastes lacrymatus, Pomacentridae, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/pomacentridae/jewel-damsel
---

# Jewel Damsel (*Stegastes lacrymatus*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Pomacentridae (*Pomacentridae*)
- **Size:** up to 11 cm
- **Depth:** 1-20 m
- **Diet:** Herbivore
- **Activity:** Diurnal
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Coral rubble and dead coral, each fish on its own patch
- **Reproduction:** Egg layer, Gonochoric

## How to recognise it

- dark brown body scattered with bright blue spots
- spots brightest on the head and back, fading with age
- stays on one small patch and returns to it
- length up to 11 cm

A dark brown damselfish scattered with bright blue spots, densest on the head and back, up to about 11 cm (4.3 in). Juveniles are the most striking - almost jewelled - and the spots dull as the fish grows.

What makes it worth watching is the farming. Each fish holds a small patch of dead coral and tends the algae growing there, weeding out species it does not want and chasing off anything that comes to graze - other damselfishes, surgeonfishes, urchins, and divers who linger. The result is a visibly greener, shaggier patch than the rock around it, and a reef covered in such patches looks mottled from above. Eggs are laid inside the territory and guarded by the male, which is when the charging becomes most determined.

## Also known as

- **Russian:** Жемчужная стегастес

## Scientific synonyms

- *Abudefduf florulentus* (Günther, 1862)
- *Abudefduf lacrymatus* (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)
- *Glyphidodon florulentus* Günther, 1862
- *Glyphisodon lacrymatus* Quoy & Gaimard, 1825
- *Glyphisodon nivosus* Hombron & Jacquinot, 1853
- *Plectoglyphidodon lacrymatus* (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)
- *Plectrogliphidodon lacrimatus* (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)
- *Plectroglyphidodon lacrymatus* (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)
- *Plectroglypidodon lacrymatus* (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)

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*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/pomacentridae/jewel-damsel)*
*Updated: August 9, 2026*