Amblyglyphidodon indicus
Yellow-tailed damselfish common on Red Sea and Maldives reefs, comfortable in 25 to 29C water most of the year.
A small, oval-bodied damselfish around 5 cm, with a blue-grey to pale body and a distinct yellow wash across the tail and rear dorsal fin. Look for faint darker vertical banding on the flanks, which fades in and out depending on the fish's mood. It hovers rather than darts, usually a body-length or two above a coral head, which helps separate it from twitchier reef damsels nearby.
Expect to find it parked just above a coral bommie or table coral in the shallows, picking at plankton drifting past rather than feeding directly off the reef. It holds its ground when divers approach, retreating only a short distance into branching coral before drifting back out, which makes it an easy fish to watch and photograph at close range. Most sightings come from depths under 15 metres, so it is a fixture of the shallow reef top rather than deeper drop-offs.
Like most damselfish, it guards a small patch of coral as a feeding and nesting territory, and males take on egg-guarding duty once a female has laid a cluster on the reef surface.
No clear seasonal pattern shows up in the sighting data, and with a comfortable temperature range of roughly 25 to 29 C, it sits on shallow reef structure year-round. Plan around good visibility and calm conditions at your chosen site rather than a particular month.
Reef neighbours a diver could mistake it for. Use the identification notes above to tell them apart.
This one turns up most reliably in the Egyptian Red Sea, especially South Sinai, Marsa Alam and the Deep South, and the Red Sea Riviera, where it is logged at more sites than anywhere else in its range. It is also a solid find across the Central Atolls of the Maldives, with smaller but consistent populations around Koh Lipe in Thailand, the Inner Islands of Seychelles, Aqaba in Jordan, and the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia.
Mapping where Maldives Damselfish is logged…
It is most reliably seen across Egypt's Red Sea coast, particularly South Sinai, Marsa Alam and the Red Sea Riviera, and it is also common through the Maldives' Central Atolls. Smaller populations show up in Thailand, Seychelles, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
There is no strong seasonal pattern in the sightings, and it tolerates a wide tropical temperature range of about 25 to 29 C, so it is present on reefs throughout the year.
Look for a small, blue-grey damselfish around 5 cm long with a yellow tail and rear dorsal fin, hovering just above coral rather than darting between crevices. Faint vertical bands sometimes show on the body.
They stay small, typically reaching around 5 cm in length, which is fairly standard for reef damselfish in this family.
No. They are harmless to divers and will simply hold their position or dip briefly into coral if you get close.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Yellowtail Clownfish
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