Marine angelfish are perciform
fishA fish is any aquatic vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins...
of the family
Pomacanthidae. They are found on shallow
reefIn nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
s in the tropical
AtlanticThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
,
IndianThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean...
, and mostly western
PacificThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
oceans. The family contains seven genera and approximately 86 species. They should not be confused with the freshwater angelfish, tropical
cichlidCichlids are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Perciformes. The family Cichlidae, a major family of perciform fish, is both large and diverse. There are at least 1300 scientifically described species, making it one of the largest vertebrate families. Numerous new species are discovered...
s of the
Amazon RiverThe Amazon River of South America is the largest river in the world by volume, with a total river flow greater than the next eight largest rivers combined. The Amazon, which has the largest drainage basin in the world, accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world's total river flow. During...
basin.
With their vibrant colours and deep, laterally compressed bodies, marine angelfishes are some of the more conspicuous residents of the reef.
Marine angelfish are perciform
fishA fish is any aquatic vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins...
of the family
Pomacanthidae. They are found on shallow
reefIn nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
s in the tropical
AtlanticThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
,
IndianThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean...
, and mostly western
PacificThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
oceans. The family contains seven genera and approximately 86 species. They should not be confused with the freshwater angelfish, tropical
cichlidCichlids are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Perciformes. The family Cichlidae, a major family of perciform fish, is both large and diverse. There are at least 1300 scientifically described species, making it one of the largest vertebrate families. Numerous new species are discovered...
s of the
Amazon RiverThe Amazon River of South America is the largest river in the world by volume, with a total river flow greater than the next eight largest rivers combined. The Amazon, which has the largest drainage basin in the world, accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world's total river flow. During...
basin.
With their vibrant colours and deep, laterally compressed bodies, marine angelfishes are some of the more conspicuous residents of the reef. They most closely resemble the
butterflyfishThe butterflyfish are a group of conspicuous tropical marine fish of the family Chaetodontidae; the bannerfish and coralfish are also included in this group. Found mostly on the reefs of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, there are approximately 120 species in 10 genera...
es, a related family of similarly showy reef fish. Marine angelfish are distinguished from butterflyfish by the presence of strong
preopercleThe operculum of a bony fish is the hard bony flap covering and protecting the gills. In most fish, the rear edge of the operculum roughly marks the division between the head and the body. The operculum is composed of four fused bones; the opercle, preopercle, interopercle, and subopercle...
spines (part of the
gillA gill is an anatomical structure found in many aquatic organisms. It is a respiration organ whose function is the extraction of oxygen from water and the excretion of carbon dioxide...
covers) in the former. This feature also explains the family name Pomacanthidae; from the
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
poma meaning "cover" and
akantha meaning "thorn".
Many species of marine angelfishes have streamer-like extensions of the soft
dorsalA dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of some fish, whales, dolphins, and porpoises, as well as the ichthyosaurs. Depending on the species, an animal can have up to three of them. Its main purpose is to stabilize the animal against rolling and assist in sudden turns...
and anal fins. The fish have small mouths, relatively large pectoral fins and rounded to lunate tail fins. The largest species, the
gray angelfishThe gray angelfish, Pomacanthus arcuatus, is a large angelfish of the family Pomacanthidae, found in the western Atlantic from New England to the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and also the Bahamas, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean, including the Antilles, at depths of between 2 and 30 m....
,
Pomacanthus arcuatus, may reach a length of 60 cm; at the other extreme, members of the genus
CentropygeCentropyge is a genus of marine angelfishes. The genus is the largest within the Pomacanthid family, comprising over 30 described species. Species in this group do not exceed 15cm in length. Although it is hard to identify their gender; females are shorter and more round finned ....
do not exceed 15 cm. A length of 20 to 30 cm is average for the rest of the family. The smaller species are popular amongst
aquaristAquaria may refer to:*The plural of aquarium*Aquaria , a 2D sidescrolling computer game*Aquaria , a symphonic power metal band from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil*Aquaria, one of the Twelve Colonies in the fictional Battlestar Galactica universe...
s, whereas the largest species are occasionally sought as a food fish; however, there have been reports of ciguatera poisoning as a result of eating marine angelfish.
The larger species are also quite bold and seemingly fearless; they are known to approach divers. While the majority adapt easily to captive life, some are specialist feeders which are difficult to maintain. Feeding habits can be strictly defined through genus, with
GenicanthusGenicanthus is a genus of marine angelfishes in the family Pomacanthidae. Known commonly as swallowtail or lyretail angelfish, these fishes are so-named for the distinctive shape of their tailfins. Unlike others in the Pomocanthidae family, the angelfish in the Genicanthus species are generally...
species feeding on
zooplanktonZooplankton are the heterotrophic type of plankton. Plankton are organisms drifting in the water column of oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water. The name of zooplankton is derived from the Greek zoon , meaning "animal", and , meaning "wanderer" or "drifter"...
and
CentropygeCentropyge is a genus of marine angelfishes. The genus is the largest within the Pomacanthid family, comprising over 30 described species. Species in this group do not exceed 15cm in length. Although it is hard to identify their gender; females are shorter and more round finned ....
preferring filamentous algae. Other species focus on sessile benthic
invertebrateAn invertebrate is an animal without a vertebral column. The group includes 95% of all animal species — all animals except those in the Chordate subphylum Vertebrata ....
s;
spongeSponges are animals of the phylum Porifera . Their bodies consist of jelly-like mesohyl sandwiched between two thin layers of cells. While all animals have unspecialized cells that can transform into specialized cells, sponges are unique in having some specialized cells that can transform into...
s,
tunicateTunicates, also known as urochordates, are members of the subphylum Tunicata or Urochordata, a group of underwater saclike filter feeders with incurrent and excurrent siphons that is classified within the phylum Chordata...
s,
bryozoaThe Bryozoa, also known as Ectoprocta, are a phylum of aquatic animals, typically about long, that sieve food particles out of the water using a retractable lophophore, a "crown" of tentacles lined with cilia. Most marine species live in tropical waters, but a few occur in oceanic trenches and...
ns, and
hydroid-Marine Biology:Colonial, plant-like animals closely related to jellyfish, with stinging cellsany member of the invertebrate order Hydroida...
s are staples.
Most marine angelfishes restrict themselves to the shallows of the reef, seldom venturing deeper than 50 m. The recently described
Centropyge abei is known to inhabit depths of 150 m. They are
diurnalDiurnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the day and sleeping at night. Animals that are not diurnal might be nocturnal or crepuscular . Many animal species are diurnal, including many mammals, insects and birds...
animals, hiding amongst the nooks and crevices of the reef by night. Some species are solitary in nature and form highly territorial mated pairs; others form harems with a single male dominant over several females. As juveniles, some species may eke out a living as
cleaner fishCleaner fish are fishes that provide a service to other fish species by removing dead skin and ectoparasites. This is an example of mutualism, an ecological interaction that benefits both parties involved...
.
Common to many species is a dramatic shift in coloration associated with maturity. For example, young male ornate angelfish,
Genicanthus bellus, have broad, black bands and are indistinguishable from females; as they mature, bright orange bands develop on the flanks and back. Thought to correspond to social rank, these colour shifts are not necessarily confined to males; all marine angelfish species are known to be protogynous hermaphrodites. This means that if the dominant male of a harem is removed, a female will turn into a functional male.
As pelagic spawners, marine angelfishes release many tiny buoyant eggs into the water which then become part of the
planktonPlankton consist of any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. Plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than their phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...
. The eggs float freely with the currents until hatching, a high number falling victim to planktonic feeders.
The
Queen angelfishThe Queen Angelfish is an angelfish commonly found near reefs in the warmer sections of the western Atlantic Ocean.-Description:...
, grows to be 45 cm. With neon blue and yellow scales, with iridescent purple and orange markings, surprisingly it is not conspicuous, and actually hides very well, and is very shy.
Genera
There are 87 species in seven genera:
- Apolemichthys
Apolemichthys is a genus of marine angelfishes in the family Pomacanthidae.-Species :* Banded angelfish, Apolemichthys arcuatus
.* Griffis angelfish, Apolemichthys griffisi
....
- Centropyge
Centropyge is a genus of marine angelfishes. The genus is the largest within the Pomacanthid family, comprising over 30 described species. Species in this group do not exceed 15cm in length. Although it is hard to identify their gender; females are shorter and more round finned ....
- Chaetodontoplus
Chaetodontoplus is a genus of marine angelfishes in the family Pomacanthidae.-Species :* Ballina angelfish, Chaetodontoplus ballinae
Whitley, 1959....
- Genicanthus
Genicanthus is a genus of marine angelfishes in the family Pomacanthidae. Known commonly as swallowtail or lyretail angelfish, these fishes are so-named for the distinctive shape of their tailfins. Unlike others in the Pomocanthidae family, the angelfish in the Genicanthus species are generally...
- Holacanthus
Holacanthus is a genus of marine angelfishes . The eight species are particularly abundant near volcanic rocks and coral islands...
- Pomacanthus
Pomacanthus is a genus of marine angelfish that is usually found around reefs and coral. Some of the notable places one can see these vari-coloured fish includes the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Sipidan off the southern coast of Sabah, Malaysia.-Species:...
- Pygoplites