24-504: See text Marine angelfish are perciform fish of the family Pomacanthidae . They are found on shallow reefs in the tropical Atlantic , Indian , and mostly western Pacific Oceans . The family contains seven genera and about 86 species. They should not be confused with the freshwater angelfish , tropical cichlids of the Amazon Basin . With their bright colours and deep, laterally compressed bodies, marine angelfishes are some of
48-490: A long-living species and are easy to care for. They were very expensive in the aquarium trade when first discovered, but have become more popular and therefore less pricey. The queen angelfish grows to be 45 cm (18 in). With neon blue and yellow scales and iridescent purple and orange markings, surprisingly it is not conspicuous, and actually hides very well, and is very shy. As juveniles, some species are different colors than when they reach adulthood. For example,
72-588: A single male dominant over several females. As juveniles, some species may eke out a living as cleaner fish . 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
96-475: Is found in the Indo-Pacific region. Genicanthus bellus Is sexually dichromatic , the males and females show different colouration and patterning. The females, and the juveniles, have greyish to bluish background colouration and are marked with wide black bands and a blue longitudinal stripe on the lower flanks. The males’ background colour is pale bluish to greyish and they have horizontal golden stripes along
120-533: The Coral Sea . Genicanthus bellus is found at depths between 25 and 100 metres (82 and 328 ft). Here it lives on deep reefs, frequently in areas which are swept by strong currents on the outer drop offs. It is a sociable species which lives in schools, within these there are harems of 3–7 fish, although the mating system has been described as being more like lekking . All angelfish are sequential protogynous hermaphrodites , all newly adult fish are female but
144-856: The Scorpaeniformes , are now classified in the Perciformes. The earliest fossil perciform is the extinct serranid Paleoserranus from the Early Paleocene of Mexico , but potential records of "percoids" are known from the Maastrichtian , including Eoserranus , Indiaichthys , and Prolates , although their exact taxonomic identity remains uncertain. The dorsal and anal fins are divided into anterior spiny and posterior soft-rayed portions, which may be partially or completely separated. The pelvic fins usually have one spine and up to five soft rays, positioned unusually far forward under
168-423: The type locality given as "Outside barrier reef off District of Paea, Tahiti, Society Islands, depth 60 m." The specific name bellus means "beautiful". The ornate angelfish is only known to hybridise with the blackstriped angelfish ( Genicanthus lamarck ). Genicanthus bellus is very infrequent and fetches high prices in the aquarium trade as it is rarely collected because of the depths at which it lives. It
192-854: The Blue Angelfish is a vibrant, electric blue color with black and white stripes or spots. When they reach adulthood, they turn a grayish color with yellow and blue fins and dark spots on their bodies. The larger species are also quite bold and seemingly fearless; they are known to approach divers. While the majority adapts easily to captive life, some are specialist feeders which are difficult to maintain. Feeding habits can be strictly defined through genus, with Genicanthus species feeding on zooplankton and Centropyge preferring filamentous algae . Other species focus on sessile benthic invertebrates ; sponges , tunicates , bryozoans , and hydroids are staples. On Caribbean coral reefs, angelfishes primarily eat sponges, and have an important role in preventing
216-597: The Centropyge genus, are range restricted or endemic to specific islands or small island groups. Perciform See text Perciformes ( / ˈ p ɜːr s ɪ ˌ f ɔːr m iː z / ), also called the Acanthopteri , is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish in the clade Percomorpha . Perciformes means " perch -like". Among the well-known members of this group are perch and darters ( Percidae ), sea bass and groupers ( Serranidae ). Formerly, this group
240-412: The centre of the flanks and another along the lower back. Also in the males the bases of the pectoral and dorsal fins are the same colour as the stripes on the body. The caudal fin are unpigmented frequently marked with patches of orange, these have filamentous extensions and are bright blue. The lips are also bright blue. In the females and juveniles there is a black stripe which runs vertically from
264-465: The chin or under the belly. Scales are usually ctenoid (rough to the touch), although sometimes they are cycloid (smooth to the touch) or otherwise modified. Classification of this group is controversial. As traditionally defined before the introduction of cladistics , the Perciformes are almost certainly paraphyletic . Other orders that should possibly be included as suborders are the Scorpaeniformes , Tetraodontiformes , and Pleuronectiformes . Of
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#1733092373534288-502: The dominant females can increase the production of testosterone in the absence of a male and change sex to male in as short a time as a fortnight . They feed mainly on plankton, forming shoals in midwater to feed. This species will also feed on benthic invertebrates like polychaetes and bryozoans, as well as algae. Genicanthus bellus was first formally described in 1979 by the American ichthyologist John Ernest Randall (1924–2020) with
312-427: 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 plankton . The eggs float freely with the currents until hatching, with a high number falling victim to planktonic feeders. In aquariums, two fish usually will breed within their community but will harass other fish in
336-399: The largest and oldest females this fin may show variable shades of r. There are two silvery-white dots on the black upper lips of the females too. The dorsal fin contains 15 spines and 15–16 soft rays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 16–17 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of 18 centimetres (7.1 in). Genicanthus bellus has a wide but localised distribution in
360-545: The more conspicuous residents of the reef . They most closely resemble the butterflyfishes , a related family of similarly showy reef fish. Marine angelfish are distinguished from butterflyfish by the presence of strong preopercle spines (part of the gill covers) in the former. This feature also explains the family name Pomacanthidae; from the Greek πομα, poma meaning "cover" and ακάνθα, akantha meaning "thorn". Many species of marine angelfishes have streamer-like extensions of
384-427: The nape through and engulfing the eye but does not extend past the lower part of the orbit . A second black stripe begins immediately to the rear of the first, creating a right angle at the origin of the dorsal fin and the continuing along that fins base. Another black stripe commences at the right angle of the second stripe and runs diagonally downward to the lower lobe of the caudal fin. The last black stripe runs along
408-496: The overgrowth of reef-building corals by eating faster-growing sponge species. Most marine angelfishes restrict themselves to the shallows of the reef, seldom venturing deeper than 50 m (160 ft). The recently described Centropyge abei is known to inhabit depths of 150 m (490 ft). They are diurnal 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
432-458: The presently recognized suborders, several may be paraphyletic, as well. These are grouped by suborder/superfamily, generally following the text Fishes of the World . Ornate angelfish Genicanthus bellus , the ornate angelfish , bellus angelfish or bellus lyretail angelfish , is a species of marine ray-finned fish , a marine angelfish belonging to the family Pomacanthidae . It
456-448: The rest of the family. The smaller species are popular amongst aquarists , whereas the largest species are occasionally sought as a food fish; however, ciguatera poisoning has been reported as a result of eating marine angelfish. Angelfish vary in color and are very hardy fish. When kept in aquariums they can easily adapt to pH and hardness changes in water and can handle conditions that are not considered to be perfect. They are usually
480-407: The soft dorsal and anal fins . The fish have small mouths, relatively large pectoral fins , and rounded to lunate tail fins. The largest species, the gray angelfish , Pomacanthus arcuatus , may reach a length of 60 cm (24 in); at the other extreme, members of the genus Centropyge do not exceed 15 cm (5.9 in). A length of 20 to 30 cm (7.9 to 11.8 in) is typical for
504-561: The tank, so it is best they have their own with plenty of room. The Pomacanthidae is frequently placed within the large order Perciformes but taxonomists have also placed the family within the order Acanthuriformes, alongside the Chaetodontidae and Acanthuridae, among others. Other authorities have resolved the family as incertae sedis . There are 88 species in eight genera: The more speciose genera are, generally speaking, widely distributed, however some species, especially of
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#1733092373534528-432: The upper margin of the upper lobe of the dorsal fin, starting at the caudal peduncle. Each of these four stripes has margins of white or very pale blue. The colour of the anal fin varies and it may have either a double or single orange stripe at the margin, however, this stripe can also be absent. is rather variable, and is edged either with a single or double stripe in orange. The dorsal fin is normally largely black, but in
552-764: The western Pacific Ocean and eastern Indian Ocean. In the Pacific it has been recorded from Tahiti , Guam , Palau, Tonga, the Cook Islands , the Marshall Islands , the Philippines, southern Japan and southern Indonesia. It’s preference for quite deep water may mean that this species is under recorded. In Australian waters it is found in the Indian Ocean of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island , as well as Holmes Reef in
576-457: Was thought to be even more diverse than it is thought to be now, containing about 41% of all bony fish (about 10,000 species) and about 160 families, which is the most of any order within the vertebrates. However, many of these other families have since been reclassified within their own orders within the clade Percomorpha, significantly reducing the size of the group. In contrast to this splitting, other groups formerly considered distinct, such as
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