Holacanthus

Queen Angelfish ( Holacanthus ciliaris )

The angel fish ( Holacanthus ) are a genus of fish from the family of angelfish. They live in the tropical and subtropical western Atlantic from Bermuda to southern Brazil and in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, in the eastern Atlantic, from Cape Verde to Angola, and in the eastern Pacific.

Features

The often colorful animals are 20 to 45 inches long. Young animals look completely different and have on dark blue or brownish base vertical light blue stripes. This allows them to stay in the mining districts of adults without causing aggressive reactions of the station owner.

Way of life

Angel fish usually live in pairs or individually in large grounds of 1000 m² and more. Holacanthus clarionensis lives in large flocks. Like their relatives, the authentics angelfish ( Pomacanthus ), they make during their lifetime with an amazing color change. All angel fish are food specialists, which feed primarily on sponges. Juveniles, in some species the adults, often act as cleaner fish and larger fish free of pesky parasites.

System

The genus was described Holacanthus 1802 by the French naturalist and ichthyologist Bernard Germain de Lacépède.

There are seven species in the following cladogram in their ancestral connection with the Peacock Emperor (Pygoplites diacanthus ) are shown as sister species and outgroup:

Orange angel fish (H. clarionensis ); Revillagigedo Islands and Clipperton.

California angel fish (H. passer); Gulf of California to Peru.

Clipperton angelfish (H. limbaughi ); Clipperton island.

Bermuda Angelfish (H. bermudensis ); tropical western Atlantic.

Queen Angel fish (H. ciliaris ); tropical western Atlantic.

Three-color angelfish (H. tricolor); tropical western Atlantic.

Ghana Angel fish (H. africanus); tropical eastern Atlantic.

Peacock Emperor (Pygoplites diacanthus ); tropical Indo-Pacific.

The genus Holacanthus probably originated millions of years ago from 10.2 to 7.6 after a settlement of the tropical Atlantic from the Indian Ocean. This is supported by similar scenarios in other fish groups, eg the dwarf angelfish, and the sister group relationship with the Peacock Emperor (Pygoplites diacanthus ). The genus then split into an eastern and a western Atlantic clade on, and, after a settlement of the eastern Pacific before the closure of the Isthmus of Panama, another East Pacific clade was added ( subgenus Plitops ).

Angel fish and people

They are sometimes offered in stores for marine aquarists and are in some aquarists sought after as a prestige object. One can, however, provide animals with these space requirements do not provide adequate habitat. The attitude in captivity is to be rejected, with the exception of very large public aquariums.

In many countries of the tropics they are offered to the fish markets as a food fish.