''Centropyge tibicen'', the keyhole angelfish, black angelfish, whitespot angelfish or puller angelfish, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

, a marine angelfish belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Pomacanthidae. It is found in the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

region.

Description

''Centropyge tibicen'' is mainly black in colour, the adults have an elongated vertical black blotch in the centre of the upper flanks. Smaller fish are mainly black with a white vertical bar which changes to a central blotch and becomes highly variable in form and extent. The dorsal and

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

s have a blue line just below their margin. Much of the

pelvic The pelvis (plural pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of the trunk, between the abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also called bony pelvis, or pelvic skeleton). The ...

and the front part of the anal fin are yellow. The

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

has a blue line which is positioned submarginally. The dorsal fin contains 14 spines and 15-16 soft rays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 16-17 soft rays. This species attains a maximum

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

of .

Distribution

''Centropyge tibicen'' Is found in the Indo-Pacific region. It occurs from northwestern coast of Australia and Christmas Island east through the Indo-Australian Archipelago to Vanuatu and Tonga in the east. They extend as far north as southern Japan and Taiwan and to

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland P ...

Habitat and biology

''Centropyge tibicen'' is found at depths between . It is an uncommon species of areas where there is a mixture of coral and rubble on both lagoon and seaward reefs. It is herbivorous and algae dominates its diet. It lives in harems of 3-7 fishes. This species is able to change sex from female to male, when there is no male in a harem, one of the females changes sex.

Systematics

''Centropyge tibicen'' was first formally described as ''Holocanthus tibicen'' in 1831 by the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

anatomist Georges Cuvier (1769-1832). The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''tibicen'' means “trumpeter”, this is thought to be alluding to the name given to this species by the Dutch naturalist François Valentijn (1666-1727) in 1726, ''Japonfche Trompetter''. When

Johann Jakob Kaup Johann Jakob von Kaup (10 April 1803 – 4 July 1873) was a German naturalist. A proponent of natural philosophy, he believed in an innate mathematical order in nature and he attempted biological classifications based on the Quinarian system. Kaup ...

described the genus '' Centropyge'' in 1860 he named Cuvier’s ''H. tibicen'' as the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

. As the type species it is placed in the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: 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 t ...

''Centropyge''.

Utilisation

''Centropyge tibicen'' is frequently found in the aquarium trade.

References

* http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=278851 *http://eol.org/pages/204723/details

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1012669

tibicen ''Tibicen'' is an historical genus name in the insect family Cicadidae (order Hemiptera) that was originally published by P. A. Latreille in 1825 and formally made available in a translation by A. A. Berthold in 1827. The name was placed on the Of ...

Fish described in 1831 Taxa named by Georges Cuvier