Parma polylepis
Territorial and bold, this NSW reef damselfish turns up year-round in water around 23-26C off Sydney and beyond.
Chunky, oval-bodied damselfish reaching about 14cm, noticeably bigger and stockier than typical tropical damsels. Brown to grey-brown body with fine pale edging on each scale that gives a cross-hatched, banded look, and a darker patch around the head and gill area. Swims with the stiff, hovering motion typical of the family, usually holding a fixed position just off the reef rather than schooling.
Look for it holding station over a favourite patch of reef or rubble, often tucked near a ledge or small cave mouth it treats as home turf. It is generally unbothered by divers at a respectful distance but will dart forward and flare at other fish, and sometimes at a lens, that get too close to its patch. Most sightings are on rocky or reef-associated ground rather than open sand, and it is logged across a wide depth range from the shallows down to around 40 metres.
Like many damselfish, it likely guards a patch of reef and will chase off intruders many times its own size, a disproportionate feistiness that is part of the fun of watching one.
Sightings show no clear seasonal pattern, and with a comfortable range of roughly 23 to 26.5C it is a fair bet on NSW reefs any month of the year. Diving is really about picking calm conditions rather than chasing a season for this one.
Reef neighbours a diver could mistake it for. Use the identification notes above to tell them apart.
This is a New South Wales speciality, most reliably logged around Sydney and the broader NSW coast, with further sightings north into Queensland. It also turns up on Norfolk Island, making it one of the few reef fish linking mainland Australian temperate reefs with that outpost.
Mapping where Banded Scalyfin is logged…
It is most consistently found on reefs in New South Wales, Australia, especially around the Sydney region, with additional sightings in Queensland and on Norfolk Island.
There is no strong seasonal pattern in sightings, so it is considered a year-round fish on NSW reefs where water sits comfortably between about 23 and 26.5C.
Look for a stocky, brown-grey damselfish around 14cm with pale scale edges creating a banded, cross-hatched pattern, and a darker head region. It typically holds a fixed position near reef structure rather than swimming in open water.
They reach about 14cm in length, making them noticeably larger and bulkier than many tropical damselfish species.
No, they pose no danger to divers. They may dart towards a camera or another fish that strays too close to their patch of reef, but this is territorial bluffing rather than a real threat.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Yellowtail Clownfish
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