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Emperor Angelfish
Pomacanthus imperator (Bloch, 1787)
Above and below: An Emperor Angelfish at a depth of 26m, "The Gut", north of Rodda Reef, far northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, December 2001. View larger image.
A juvenile Emperor Angelfish at a depth of 26m, North Solitary Island, New South Wales, January 2000. View larger image.
Adult Emperor Angelfish have diagonal yellow and purplish-blue stripes on the body, and a curved black bar covering the eye.
Angelfishes of the genus Pomacanthus are known for their dramatic colour changes with growth. The juvenile Emperor Angelfish (bottom image) is dark blue-black with a white ring on the rear of the body. This is surrounded by incomplete circles of blue and white.
Juveniles are often seen under ledges near cleaner shrimps. View a wider image of the fish in the bottom image surrounded by the cleaner shrimp Lysmata amboinensis.
This species grows to 38cm in length.
The Emperor Angelfish occurs on coral reefs throughout much of the Indo-Central Pacific.
In Australia it is known from the central Western Australian coast, around the tropical north and south to the central New South Wales coastline.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Angelfishes (Family Pomacanthidae) are some of the most popular tropical marine aquarium fishes.
They are related to the butterflyfishes, family Chaetodontidae. The two families can be distinguished by the presence or absence of a large spine on the lower, rear margin of the preoperculum (glossary). The spine is present in angelfishes but absent in butterflyfishes.
Further reading
- Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 292.
- Allen, G.R., Steene, R. & M. Allen. 1998. A Guide to Angelfishes & Butterflyfishes. Odyssey Publishing/Tropical Reef Research. Pp. 250.
- Allen, G.R. & R. Swainston. 1988. The Marine Fishes of North-Western Australia. A Field Guide for Anglers and Divers. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 201.
- Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
- Myers, R.F. 1999. Micronesian Reef Fishes. Coral Graphics. Pp. 330.
- Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 557.
