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Marine angelfish are perciform fish of the family Pomacanthidae.
Found on shallow reefs in the tropical Atlantic, Indian, and mostly
western Pacific Ocean, the family contains seven genera and approximately
86 species. They should not be confused with the freshwater angelfish,
tropical cichlids of the Amazon River basin.
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With their vibrant
colours and deep, laterally compressed bodies, marine angelfish
are some of the more conspicuous residents of the reef. They most
closely resemble the butterflyfish, 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 poma meaning "cover" and
akantha meaning "thorn". Many
species of marine angelfish have streamer-like extentions of 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 centimetres; at the other extreme, members of the
genus Centropyge do not exceed 15 centimetres. A length of 20-30
centimetres is average for the rest of the family. The smaller
species are popular amongst aquarists, 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.
Above Inages Come From The NOAA
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