''Pomacanthus'' is a genus of

marine angelfish Marine angelfish are perciform fish of the family Pomacanthidae. They are found on shallow reefs in the tropical Atlantic, Indian, and mostly western Pacific Oceans. The family contains seven genera and about 86 species. They should not be conf ...

that is usually found around

reefs A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes—deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

and

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

. Some of the notable places one can see these vari-coloured fish includes the

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, and Sipidan off the southern coast of

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. Generally the patterns and colors of these fish undergo a major transformation from juvenile to adult forms. The juveniles may even appear to be a different species.

Species

The following 13 species are classified within the genus ''Pomacanthus'':

Systematics

The genus ''Pomacanthus'' was created in 1802 by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède (1756-1825) with 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 ...

being designated as ''Chaetodon arcuatus''. The name is a compound of ''poma'' meaning"lid" and ''acanthus'' which means "thorn", a reference to the prominents spine on the rear margin of the operculum, a feature shared by all the marine angelfishes. Some authorities divide the genus up into the following subgenera: * ''Pomacanthus'' Lacépède, 1802 ** ''Pomacanthus (Pomacanthus) arcuatus'' ** ''Pomacanthus (Pomacanthus) paru'' ** ''Pomacanthus (Pomacanthus) zonipectus'' * ''Acanthochaetodon'' Bleeker, 1876 ** ''Pomacanthus (Acanthochaetodon) annularis'' ** ''Pomacanthus (Acanthochaetodon) chrysurus'' ** ''Pomacanthus (Acanthochaetodon) imperator'' ** ''Pomacanthus (Acanthochaetodon) rhomboides'' * ''Arusetta'' Fraser-Brunner, 1933 ** ''Pomacanthus (Arusetta) asfur'' ** ''Pomacanthus (Arusetta) maculosus'' ** ''Pomacanthus (Arusetta) semicirculatus'' * ''Euxiphipops'' Fraser-Brunner 1934 ** ''Pomacanthus (Euxiphipops) navarchus'' ** ''Pomacanthus (Euxiphipops) sexstriatus'' ** ''Pomacanthus (Euxiphipops) xanthometopon''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q762409 Pomacanthidae Extant Late Cretaceous first appearances Marine fish genera Taxa named by Bernard Germain de Lacépède