Marine Angelfish Codexery

Pomacanthus arcuatus

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Pomacanthus arcuatus

Andy Blackledge · CC BY 2.0

Adults are pale grayish with black spots, while juveniles are black with five vertical yellow stripes.[1][2] The gray angelfish possesses a compressed, disc-shaped body and a small mouth.[2][3] This fish grows up to 60 cm in total length.[2][4]

Scientific classification

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassActinopterygii
  4. DivisionTeleostei
  5. OrderAcanthuriformes
  6. FamilyPomacanthidae
  7. GenusPomacanthus
  8. SpeciesPomacanthus arcuatus

Named by (Linnaeus, 1758)

Close relatives

Other species of Pomacanthus with a Codexery entry.

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Gray angelfish (CC BY-SA 4.0) · differs from this box at order: WoRMS AphiaID 159287 (CC BY 4.0)

Conservation status

Least Concern (LC)

  1. LC▲ this species
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX
Population trend
Not held in our sources — see the assessment
Assessment published
2010

Source: IUCN Red List assessment · GBIF copy of the Red List category

How big is it?

Size comparison: Pomacanthus arcuatus and a personA 0.6 m long pomacanthus arcuatus drawn to scale next to a 1.8 m tall person. Schematic shapes, not a likeness.0.6 m1.8 m

Largest length in the source, 0.6 m, next to a 1.8 m person.

Diagram: drawn by Codexery, schematic shapes to scale (not a likeness). Length: Wikipedia: Gray angelfish

Where the pomacanthus arcuatus has been recorded

Where the pomacanthus arcuatus has been recorded103 mapped locations from 38,919 GBIF occurrence records; marked places: Caribbean Sea, BermudaCaribbean SeaBermuda

Each dot is a place where the species has been observed and reported (38,919 records, half-degree grid) — not a modelled range. 27 inland records left out (institution coordinates). 3 isolated far-off records not drawn.

Map: drawn by Codexery. Data: GBIF occurrence search (records CC0 / CC BY) · Natural Earth basemap (public domain) · place coordinates: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Biology and range

Females release between 25,000 and 75,000 eggs per spawning event, and the eggs hatch into larvae after 15–20 hours.[5][2] Its distribution covers the entire Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico; the species was brought to Bermuda from the Bahamas.[6] During the day the gray angelfish is active, and at night it conceals itself within the reef.[5][2] Young gray angelfish serve as cleaner fish, operating cleaning stations that attract larger fish.[5]

Pomacanthus arcuatus
Pomacanthus arcuatus. Image: Caio Ribeiro Pimentel · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Spawning takes place from April through September in the northern portion of the species' range.[5]

What the specialist sources record

The Discover Fish account by Cathleen Bester notes that the gray angelfish is easily confused with the French angelfish (Pomacanthus paru).[2] Bester states that the juvenile gray angelfish has a yellow band running through the mouth to the chin, distinguishing it from the French angelfish.[2] Bester also reports that the gray angelfish is marketed fresh or salted due to its flesh of excellent quality.[2] The Saltcorner account by Bob Goemans gives a maximum size of 20 inches (50 cm) and notes adults are mainly at depths of 50 to 100 feet (15–30 m).[7]

Goemans describes the adult as having an overall pale silvery-grayish body with numerous darker dots and a whitish gray head.[7] The GBIF database holds 39,181 occurrence records for this taxon.[8]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Gray angelfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Pomacanthus arcuatus", Saltcorner!, 2012 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Cathleen Bester, "Pomacanthus arcuatus", Discover Fish. facts only, no text reused. floridamuseum.ufl.edu
  3. Wikipedia, "Gray angelfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Species: Pomacanthus arcuatus, Grey angelfish", Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean online information (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Gray angelfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Gray angelfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cathleen Bester, "Pomacanthus arcuatus", Discover Fish (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Gray angelfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pyle, R., "Pomacanthus arcuatus", 2010; "Pomacanthus arcuatus introduced to Bermuda from Bahamas Date of introduction: 1920s", Food and Agriculture Organization (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. "Pomacanthus arcuatus", Saltcorner!, 2012. facts only, no text reused. saltcorner.com
  8. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence index, Pomacanthus arcuatus (taxon key 2396435). CC BY 4.0 (backbone); counts are facts. gbif.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Gray angelfish (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Same family (Pomacanthidae)

Apolemichthys griffisi Apolemichthys griffisi, Apolemichthys xanthotis Apolemichthys xanthotis, Bicolor angelfish Centropyge bicolor, Blackedged angelfish Genicanthus watanabei, Blue velvet angelfish Centropyge deborae, Centropyge abei Centropyge abei

Named in this entry

Pomacanthus, Genus

More in Marine Angelfish

Pomacanthus xanthometoponPomacanthus chrysurusPomacanthus paruPomacanthus semicirculatusPomacanthus imperatorPomacanthus maculosusPomacanthus navarchusOld woman angelfishSixbar angelfishPomacanthus zonipectusPomacanthidaeCentropyge

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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