Scissortail Damselfish

Sightings

2026 season, numbered oldest first, every one sourced

Photos

More of each life stage

The California photos sit with their numbered sightings above. If you photographed this animal in California this season, post it to the Coastal Bulletin.

Home Range

Where it normally lives

Isla Guadalupe and central Baja California, and the northern Gulf of California, south to Pucusana, Peru, including the Galapagos and Cocos islands.

Range source: Love et al. 2021, via Zenodo · FishBase · Mexican Fish.com

This damselfish ranges from Isla Guadalupe and central Baja California, and from the northern Gulf of California, south to Pucusana, Peru, including the Galapagos and Cocos islands. It lives from the intertidal zone to about 262 feet, usually at about 20 to 65 feet.

Identification

The scissortail damselfish is a small fish with a narrow, oval, flattened body. It is metallic silvery gray with dark reddish brown tinges, and the base of its pectoral fin is very black. Its deeply forked tail has narrow black lobes with sharp tips, which give the fish its name. Most carry a bright white spot just below the rear of the dorsal fin. It reaches about 5.3 inches.

The silverstripe chromis, another 2026 visitor to California, has a deeper body and lacks the sharp dark tail lobes.

Natural History

Scissortail damselfish live on rocky and coral reefs and gather in large numbers in open water above them to feed on zooplankton. They are less territorial than other damselfishes in the area. Their eggs stick to the bottom, and the males guard and aerate them. The fish is hard to see in deep water, where its white spot gives off a glowing effect.

In California

On October 26, 2026, Laiana Bechtail photographed a fish at Scripps Pier in La Jolla that Nautical Nick identified as a scissortail damselfish. iNaturalist held no California records of the species on October 30, 2026, but Nautical Nick reports it at the pier every day.

Taxonomy

Rarity

Rarity in the compendium is Nautical Nick's call on how likely a diver is to run into the animal on the California coast this season, not how rare it is where it normally lives.