damselfish

American  

[dam-zuhl-fish] / ˈdæm zəlˌfɪʃ /

noun

• damselfish,
  plural
• damselfishes
  plural

1. any of several chiefly tropical, brilliantly colored, marine fishes of the family Pomacentridae, living among coral reefs.

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damselfish British  

/ ˈdæmzəlˌfɪʃ /

noun

1. any small tropical percoid fish of the family Pomacentridae, having a brightly coloured deep compressed body See also anemone fish

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• damselfish
  plural
• damselfishes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of damselfish

First recorded in 1900–05; damsel + fish

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

damselfish damselfishes

The fish included golden African snappers, blackbar soldierfish, Guinean angelfish, West African goatfish, the Monrovia doctorfish, three-banded butterflyfish, and two species of damselfish.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026

The Cambridge researchers attached 3D plastic models of trumpetfish and parrotfish to a wire pulley system and deployed them inside a colony of damselfish.

From DOGO News ● Sep. 7, 2023

Similarly, when the trumpetfish model was attached to the side of a parrotfish model and pulled past the damselfish, the fish did not flee.

From New York Times ● Aug. 7, 2023

The study examined sites around the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, focusing on a small fish known as the jewel damselfish.

From Scientific American ● May 12, 2023

We swam under a rock arch and through a short tunnel as damselfish, and ornate wrasse glided by in a mesmerizing parade.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 9, 2022

The soft corals that dominate the mesophotic zone host a diverse and colorful community of wrasses, butterflyfishes, damselfishes, mollusks, crustaceans, and other sea creatures.

From Science Magazine ● Mar. 2, 2017