The bluering angelfish (''Pomacanthus annularis''), also known as the annularis angelfish and the blue king angelfish, is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

, a marine angelfish belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Pomacanthidae. It is member of the genus ''

Pomacanthus ''Pomacanthus'' from Ancient Greek ''poma'', meaning "cover", and ''ákantha'', meaning "spine", is a genus of marine angelfish that is usually found around reefs and coral. Some of the notable places one can see these vari-coloured fish includes ...

'', composed of large marine angelfish.

Distribution

The bluering angelfish can be found in the Indo-West Pacific oceans from

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

, throughout

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and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

, north to southern

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Habitat

Bluering angelfishes inhabit coastal rocky coral reefs and may be also encountered in caves or on wrecks, at depths of .Animal Diversity Web
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Description

Bluering angelfish have adults which are mainly yellow with the body marked with obvious arcing blue lines and a blue circle shaped mark above the operculum. They frequently have an elongated tip to the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

and they have a white

caudal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

with a yellow margin. They also have a pair of blue stripes across the face, one runs through the eye and the second is situated immediately beneath the eye. The juveniles have a bluish-black overall colour with thin white to blue coloured curved lines on their body. The dorsal fin has 13 spines and 20–21 soft rays while the

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

contains 3 spines and 20 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of .

Biology and behavior

Bluering angelfishes are frequently encountered in pairs. Similarly to other species of the genus ''Pomacanthus'' these angelfishes live in harem, as the male defends a territory and controls a few females. After a courtship ritual males and females release eggs and sperm. At the beginning of life all juveniles are females ( sequential hermaphrodite), becoming males during the development, with a complete color variation from the juvenile to adult stage. Juveniles prefer very shallow waters with rock or dead coral substrates and short filamentous algae. Adults mainly feed on zooplankton, sponges, filamentous algae and tunicates. WoRMS – World Register of Marine Species

Systematics

The bluering angelfish was first formally described in 1795 as ''Chaetodon tricolor'' by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Marcus Elieser Bloch (1723–1799) with the type locality given as the Indian Ocean. The species is placed by some authorities in the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

''Acanthochaetodon'',. The specific name of this species, ''annularis'', means "ringed" which refers to the ring on the body above the gill cover.

Utilisation

Bluering angelfish are infrequently found in the aquarium trade.

Gallery

File: Pomacanthus annularis juvenil.jpg, ''Pomacanthus annularis''. Juvenile File: 1 Pomacanthus annularis.jpg, Adult File: Pomacanthus annularis, dientes.jpg, Denture, front view File: Pomacanthidae - Pomacanthus annularis.webm, Video clip

References

External links

Blue Ring Angelfish
(Pomacanthus annularis) {{Taxonbar, from=Q215807 Pomacanthus Fish described in 1787 Taxa named by Marcus Elieser Bloch Articles containing video clips