French angelfish

Description

The French angelfish (Pomacanthus paru) is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a marine angelfish belonging to the family Pomacanthidae. It occurs in the Western Atlantic Ocean. The French angelfish has a laterally compressed body which is almost circular in shape. The head is deep with a short snout ending in a small mouth which contains numerous bristle-like teeth. There is an obvious spine at the corner of the preoperculum while there are no spines on the operculum or under the eye.The dorsal fin contains 10 spines and 29-31 soft rays while the anal fin contains 3 spines and 22-24 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of 41.1 centimetres (16.2 in).The juveniles are almost completely black apart from five vertical yellow bands the first around the mouth and the last at the caudal peduncle, the bands on the body are curved. The caudal fin has yellow margins. The adults are also mainly black but most of the scales on the body have a golden-yellow edge. They have a white mouth and a yellow orbit. The pectoral fins have a wide orange-yellow band and the dorsal fin has a long yellow filamentous extension growing from its soft-rayed part. The French angelfish is found in the western Atlantic from New York and the Bahamas to Brazil, and also the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, including the Antilles, Roatan, and the eastern Atlantic from around Ascension Island and St. Paul's Rocks The French angelfish is found at depths between 3 to 100 m (9.8 to 328.1 ft). It is common on rocky and coral reefs where it is normally encountered in pairs, frequently in the vicinity of sea fans. Its diet comprises sponges, algae, bryozoans, zoantharians, gorgonians and tunicates. These pairs are highly territorial, and typically both vigorously defending their territory from their neighbours. Juveniles act as cleaner fish, establishing cleaning stations where they remove ectoparasites and clean a wide range of other fish species. Species recorded as being clients of juvenile French angelfish, include jacks, snappers, morays, grunts, surgeonfishes and wrasses.. When they are trying to draw client fish to the cleaning station the juvenile displays by using a fluttering swimming motion and as it cleans it touches the recipient of its service with its pelvic fins. During the day you will mostly see these fish out and about, but come night they seek shelter in their designated hiding spot where they return every night.