The bluering angelfish (''Pomacanthus annularis''), also known as the Annularis Angelfish and the Blue King Angelfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a marine angelfish belonging to the family Pomacanthidae. It is member of the genus ''

Pomacanthus ''Pomacanthus'' 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 the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Sipidan off the southern coast of Sabah, Malaysi ...

'', composed of large marine angelfish.

Distribution

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

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

, throughout Indonesia and New Guinea to

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, north to southern

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

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 and they have a white caudal fin 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 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 ...

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 ( protogynous

hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...

s), 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 (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

physician and naturalist 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 (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 ...

''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 Articles containing video clips