Marine Angelfish Codexery

Queen angelfish

A coral reef angelfish with a blue-and-yellow crown.

Last updated

Queen angelfish

Pedro Lastra · CC BY-SA 2.0

The queen angelfish is a vibrant reef fish with trailing dorsal and anal fins and a triangular tail.[1] The body of this fish is covered in scales that are blue-green with yellow tips, and its fins display blue and yellow accents; a dark-ringed spot resembling a crown, dotted with blue, sits on its forehead.[1][2] The largest recorded individuals of this species reach 45 cm in total length and can weigh up to 1600 g.[3][1]

Queen Angelfish Crown symbol
Queen Angelfish Crown symbol. Image: Pedro Lastra · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Scientific classification

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassActinopterygii
  4. DivisionTeleostei
  5. OrderAcanthuriformes
  6. FamilyPomacanthidae
  7. GenusHolacanthus
  8. SpeciesHolacanthus ciliaris

Named by (Linnaeus, 1758)

Close relatives

Other species of Holacanthus with a Codexery entry.

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Queen angelfish (CC BY-SA 4.0) · order, family and genus agree with WoRMS AphiaID 276012 (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: Queen angelfish and a personA 0.45 m long queen angelfish drawn to scale next to a 1.8 m tall person. Schematic shapes, not a likeness.0.45 m1.8 m

Largest length in the source, 0.45 m, next to a 1.8 m person.

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

Where the queen angelfish has been recorded

Where the queen angelfish has been recorded114 mapped locations from 40,077 GBIF occurrence records; marked places: Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean SeaAtlantic OceanCaribbean Sea

Each dot is a place where the species has been observed and reported (40,077 records, half-degree grid) — not a modelled range. 15 inland records left out (institution coordinates).

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

In the Western Atlantic Ocean, queen angelfish inhabit tropical and subtropical waters near the coasts and islands of the Americas.[4] Living on or near the bottom, these fish are found from shallow coastal areas down to a depth of 70 m.[4][1] Coral reefs, especially those with soft corals, are their preferred habitat, and they are observed swimming either by themselves or in pairs.[5]

Queen Angelfish
Queen Angelfish. Image: Pedro Lastra · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

What the specialist sources record

The Discover Fish account states that the queen angelfish is a subtropical insular species preferring reefs that surround offshore islands.[1] The same source notes that the queen angelfish can be found from nearshore shallows down to approximately 70 m.[1] The Discover Fish account describes juveniles as dark blue with a yellow tail, a yellow area around the pectoral fins, and brilliant blue vertical bars on the body.[1] The Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean online information gives a maximum size of about 45 cm.[6]

Queen Angelfish imported from iNaturalist on 6 December 2024
Queen Angelfish imported from iNaturalist on 6 December 2024. Image: (c) Eridan Xharahi, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The Discover Fish account reports that the female can release as many as ten million eggs during each spawning cycle.[1] The WoRMS database records the species as Holacanthus ciliaris (Linnaeus, 1758), family Pomacanthidae, order Acanthuriformes.[7]

References

  1. "Holacanthus ciliaris", Discover Fish, 10 May 2017. facts only, no text reused. floridamuseum.ufl.edu
  2. Wikipedia, "Queen angelfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Snyder, "Marine Fishes of Florida", Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016, p. 221–224; Froese, Rainer, "Holacanthus ciliaris (Linnaeus, 1758)", Fishbase, December 2019; "Holacanthus ciliaris", Discover Fish, 10 May 2017; Snyder, "Marine Fishes of Florida", Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016, p. 221–224 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Queen angelfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Species: Holacanthus ciliaris, Blue angelfish", Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean online information; "Holacanthus ciliaris", Discover Fish, 10 May 2017; Froese, Rainer, "Holacanthus ciliaris (Linnaeus, 1758)", Fishbase, December 2019; "Holacanthus ciliaris", Discover Fish, 10 May 2017; Froese, Rainer, "Holacanthus ciliaris (Linnaeus, 1758)", Fishbase, December 2019; "Holacanthus ciliaris", Discover Fish, 10 May 2017; Snyder, "Marine Fishes of Florida", Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016, p. 221–224; Moyer, "Courtship, spawning an en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Queen angelfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pyle, R., "Holacanthus ciliaris", 2010; "Holacanthus ciliaris", Discover Fish, 10 May 2017 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Queen angelfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Holacanthus ciliaris", Discover Fish, 10 May 2017 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. "Species: Holacanthus ciliaris, Blue angelfish", Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean online information. facts only, no text reused. biogeodb.stri.si.edu
  7. World Register of Marine Species, Holacanthus ciliaris (AphiaID 276012). CC BY 4.0. marinespecies.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Queen 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 griffisiApolemichthys xanthotis Apolemichthys xanthotisBicolor angelfish Centropyge bicolorBlackedged angelfish Genicanthus watanabei

Named in this entry

Sponge

More in Marine Angelfish

Clarion angelfishClipperton angelfishHolacanthus passerRock beautyPomacanthus annularisArabian angelfishPomacanthus arcuatusPomacanthus xanthometoponPomacanthus chrysurusPomacanthus paruPomacanthus semicirculatusPomacanthus imperator

Test yourself

Three questions drawn from this entry’s sources. Pick an answer to check it.

1. In what year was the queen angelfish first scientifically described?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1758.

2. What is the IUCN Red List category of the queen angelfish?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Least Concern.

3. To which genus does the queen angelfish belong?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Holacanthus.

Answers checked against the source article

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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