Vertebrate >> Fish >> Angelfish >> Queen Angelfish

Queen Angelfish

(Holacanthus ciliaris)

Scientific Class

Phylum: Chordata
Class: Osteichthyes
Order: Perciformes
Family: Pomacanthidae
Genus: Holacanthus
Species: Holocanthus ciliaris

Quick Facts

Name: Queen Angelfish
Size: 45 cm (18 in)
Weight: 1.6 kg (3.50 lbs)
Lifespan: 15 Years
Diet: Sponges, Tunicates, Jellyfish, Hydroids, Bryozoans, Plankton, Algae

Distribution

Queen Angelfish Facts

Description
The body of the queen angelfish (Holacanthus ciliaris) is highly compressed and its head is blunt and rounded. Blue to greenish-blue ovoid body with yellow edging to mid and posterior scales. Pectoral, ventral, and caudal fins are yellow. The face is yellow with a blue mouth. Crown-like dark blue ocellated spot on forehead. Dorsal and anal fins trail beyond body mass. Solid, squared (truncate) caudal fin. The juvenile form consists primarily of a dark blue body with multiple brilliant blue bars and yellow features. Additionally, mid-body bars are curved. Also, the dorsal and anal fins are edged in brilliant blue.

Habitat – Distribution
A subtropical island species, queen angelfish are found in coral reefs on coasts or surrounding offshore islands. The queen angelfish is most abundant in the Caribbean Sea, but can be found in tropical western Atlantic waters ranging from Bermuda to Brazil and from Panama to the Windward Islands. It can be found at depths between 1-70 meters (3.3–230 feet) below the surface. 

Diet – Behavior

Queen angelfish are omnivores, and although they prefer sponges, algae, and bryozoans, they also eat jellyfish, corals, plankton, and tunicates. Apart from the courtship period, they are generally observed moving in pairs or singly year-round: some research suggests they are pair-bonded and monogamous but males have been known to have harems of up to 4 females. 

During the juvenile stage, queen angelfish set up cleaning stations, where larger fish approach and allow the much smaller angelfish to clean them of ectoparasites.

Reproduction – Juveniles
During the winter courtship periods, queen angelfish are found in larger groups known as harems. These pre-spawning groups are typically made up of a ratio of one male to four females, and the males court the females. Males flaunt their pectoral fins and the females respond by swimming upward. The male uses his snout to make contact with her genital area, and then they touch bellies and swim upward together to a depth of about 60 feet, where the male releases sperm and the female releases eggs into the water column. 

Females can produce anywhere from 25,000 to 75,000 transparent and buoyant eggs during one evening event; and as many as 10 million per spawning cycle. After spawning, there is no further parental involvement. The eggs are fertilized in the water column and then hatch out within 15–20 hours, as larvae lacking working eyes, fins or gut. The larvae live on yolk sacs for 48 hours, after which they have developed enough to begin feeding on plankton. They grow rapidly and after three to four weeks they reach about one-half inch long when they sink to the bottom and live in coral and finger sponge colonies.

Conservation Status
Queen angelfish are classed as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. They are used as part of the commercial aquarium trade. They are not typically a food fish, because they are associated with ciguatera poisoning, caused by fish eating other toxic creatures and keeping a reservoir of toxins which may be passed on to human consumers.