Yellowtail Damsel- Kayley McDowell

Yellowtail Damselfish- Microspathodon chrysurus

We saw the Yellowtail Damsel (Microspathodon chrysurus) at many of the sites we visited this week. I have pictures of these fish at Looe Key as well as Old sweat bank. Yellowtail damsels are located in subtropical marine reef associated areas with a depth rage of 1-65m. This fish can be found residing among the branches of yellow stinging coral, Millepora. The adults can be found in shallow waters of coral reefs near caves or holes to hide in. The maximum length of these species is around 21cm while the common length is roughly 15cm. Yellowtail Damsels feed on algae but also on polyps of fire coral, inverts, and the juveniles occasionally pick parasites from other species of fish.

Yellowtail Damsels are oviparous meaning they lay eggs to be hatched later on. The eggs are demersal and adhere to the substrate they are laid on.  The males usually guard and aerate the eggs until they are hatched. Juveniles are dark blue with scattered intensely iridescent blue spots with a clear or light-yellow tail fin. The adults are a grey-brown with scattered iridescent blue spots near the top of head and the tail fin is yellow. An advantage to this color change is camouflage against predators to match their surroundings better. This fish is listed as least concern for the IUCN red list status.

Sources:

https://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/caribbean/en/thefishes/species/3876

https://www.fishbase.se/summary/Microspathodon-chrysurus.html

https://reefguide.org/keys/yellowtaildamsel.html

https://www.antiguamarinelife.info/Yellowtail_Damselfish.html

https://rollingharbour.com/2017/10/23/bahamas-reef-fish-39-yellowtail-damselfish/