The Most Beautiful Reef Fish

The Most Beautiful Reef Fish

Image Source:  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Stan_Shebs
Holocanthus ciliarus
1. The Queen angelfish are found in the Western Atlantic Ocean from Bermuda to Brazil and the Caribbean.  
2. Queen angelfish are up to 18 inches (45 cm) long and can weigh up to 56 ounces. 

3. The queen angelfish is one of the most beautiful reef fish in the ocean.  The body is highly compressed and the head is blunt and rounded with a small protruding mouth that contains slender brush like teeth in a narrow band.  One dorsal fin runs along the top of the body. Chest, abdomen, and tail fins are yellow.  They are brilliantly colored in iridescent blue and yellow.

4. The dark ringed spot on the forehead of the queen angelfish that resembles a crown, hence the name. 

5. Like all bony fish, queen angelfish have a strong internal skeleton that supports their flexible fins enabling the fish to control movement with precision. They have a gas-filled swim bladder that allows them to adjust their buoyancy. They can pump water over their gills and do not need to move forward to breathe. Their scaly skin is covered with a thin layer of mucus that protects the fish from bacteria and parasites and also makes them slippery, which helps them slide through the water.

6. The appearance of the juvenile angelfish is quite different from the adult. They are dark blue with a yellow tail, a yellow area around the pectoral fin, and brilliant blue vertical bars on the body. They are similar in appearance to the blue angelfish; the only way to tell them apart is to note the curvature of the bars on the body.  The queen juvenile has curved bars while the blue juvenile has straighter bars. As the queen juvenile grows larger, the color gradually changes from the dark blue of youth to the iridescent blues and yellows of adults. 

7. The queen angelfish is very shy, is sometimes curious, and is usually found in pairs. 

8. Males are very territorial. Holocanthus ciliarus are very thin; they can turn quickly and can maneuver down into narrow cracks between the corals to hunt their prey.  They swim by rowing with their pectoral fins.

9. The juveniles set up cleaning stations along the reef within their territory. These are areas where larger fishes allow a smaller creature to remove any parasites from its body. A sort of truce among predators and prey prevails at the stations. The large fish remains motionless and allows the smaller angelfish access to sensitive areas such as the gills. The juvenile angelfish, in turn, trusts the larger fish not to eat it.  

10. The adult queen angelfish feeds on a variety of marine invertebrates including sponges, tunicates, jellyfish and corals, as well as plankton and algae. 

11. They are harvested commercially for the aquarium hobby rather than as a food source.  

12. Their value seems to stem directly from the beauty that they add to their surroundings. 

13. The queen angelfish has never been bred in captivity. 

14. Cases of toxic poisoning have been reported from people eating this fish. The illness is serious and symptoms (gastrointestinal discomfort, general arm and leg weakness, and a reversal in being able to determine the difference between hot and cold) may last for several weeks. 

15. Fish have a series of nerves called the lateral line extending the length of the body. These nerves are sensitive to the vibrations caused by the motion of a potential predator or food source swimming nearby.

16. Angelfish have the ability to digest the tough flesh of sponges.