---
title: Yellowtail Damselfish (Neopomacentrus flavicauda)
scientific_name: Neopomacentrus flavicauda
common_name: Yellowtail Damselfish
taxon: Pomacentridae
published: 2026-08-09T21:03:20.215Z
updated: 2026-08-09T22:18:06.218Z
tags: Yellowtail Damselfish, Neopomacentrus flavicauda, Pomacentridae, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/pomacentridae/yellowtail-damselfish
---

# Yellowtail Damselfish (*Neopomacentrus flavicauda*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Pomacentridae (*Pomacentridae*)
- **Size:** up to 6 cm
- **Depth:** 1-20 m
- **Diet:** Planktivore
- **Activity:** Diurnal
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Above coral heads and rubble, in aggregations
- **Reproduction:** Egg layer, Gonochoric

## How to recognise it

- grey-brown body with a clean yellow tail
- small white spot at the rear base of the dorsal fin
- hovers in loose groups a metre above the bottom
- length up to 6 cm

A small grey-brown damselfish with a clean yellow tail and a white spot at the rear base of the dorsal fin, reaching about 6 cm (2.4 in). It hovers in loose aggregations a metre or so above coral heads and rubble, dropping back to cover in unison whenever something passes.

Feeding is on plankton taken from the current, which is why these groups sit where water accelerates over an obstruction. Males clear a patch of hard surface, court passing females with a jerky swimming display, and then guard the eggs stuck to the rock until they hatch - a pattern shared across the family and the reason a damselfish half the size of your hand will charge a diver's mask in breeding season. Common on shallow reef here, and easy to overlook precisely because it is everywhere.

## Also known as

- **English:** Red Sea Demoiselle, Yellow-tail Damsel
- **Portuguese:** Donzela-do-Mar-Vermelho
- **Czech:** sapínek rudomořský
- **Russian:** Жёлтохвостая помацентра
- **CA:** Damisel·la del Mar Roja

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