Vermiculated angelfish

Lore & Background

Chaetodontoplus mesoleucus has blue lips contrasting with its yellow face, and a black vertical band running through the eye. The body has a cinereous area to the rear of the head that shades into a larger black area marked with yellow speckling. The caudal fin is yellow, the dorsal and anal fins have a vivid blue margin, and the pelvic fins are white. The specific name mesos means 'middle' and leucus means 'white', possibly referring to how the white front half of the body shades into the black rear half in the middle of the flanks. Chaetodontoplus poliourus was formerly considered conspecific but has a yellow-margined grey caudal fin, yellow pelvic fins, and a paler yellow dorsal fin margin.

Reader's Guide

The vermiculated angelfish is exported for use in aquariums and is noted as one of the most popular aquarium species. It is found in the western Indo-Pacific region, from southern Japan south through Indonesia, west to the Mentawai Islands, east to the Bird's Head Peninsula of New Guinea, and south to northern Australia. Its Australian distribution includes reefs off the Kimberley Region of Western Australia south to Varanus Island, as well as Ashmore Reef in the Timor Sea. It lives at depths between 1 and 30 metres on reefs on the continental shelf, preferring silty inner coastal reefs and lagoons with rich coral growth. Its diet comprises sponges, tunicates, and filamentous algae. It is normally encountered in small groups and hides among coral when alarmed. Like all angelfish, it is a protogynous hermaphrodite: all individuals are initially female, and dominant ones change to males.

Did You Know?

• It was first formally described in 1787 by German naturalist Marcus Elieser Bloch.
• The species is a protogynous hermaphrodite, with dominant females changing to males.
• Its diet includes sponges, tunicates, and filamentous algae.