Pomacanthus

Pomacanthus is a genus of marine angelfish that is usually found around reefs and coral. Some of the notable places one can see these vari-coloured fish includes the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Sipidan off the southern coast of Sabah, Malaysia. 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.

Pomacanthus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous to Present[1]
Gray angelfish, Pomacanthus arcuatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Pomacanthidae
Genus:	Pomacanthus Lacépède, 1802
Type species
Pomacanthus arcuatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Species
See text

Species

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Pomacanthus annularis (Bloch, 1787).	Bluering angelfish,	the Indo-West Pacific oceans from East Africa, throughout Indonesia and New Guinea to New Caledonia, north to southern Japan.
	Pomacanthus arcuatus (Linnaeus, 1758).	Gray angelfish,	western Atlantic from New England to the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and also the Bahamas, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean, including the Antilles
	Pomacanthus asfur (Forsskål, 1775).	Arabian angelfish,	the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to Zanzibar. It can be found also in the Persian Gulf.
	Pomacanthus chrysurus (Cuvier, 1831).	Goldtail angelfish,	western Indian Ocean (South Africa including Comoros, Seychelles and Madagascar)
	Pomacanthus imperator (Bloch, 1787).	Emperor angelfish,	the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from the Red Sea to Hawaii and the Austral Islands.
	Pomacanthus maculosus (Forsskål, 1775).	Yellowbar angelfish,	the Persian Gulf, the northwestern Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea
	Pomacanthus navarchus (Cuvier, 1831).	Blue-girdled angelfish,	the Indo-Pacific region
	Pomacanthus paru (Bloch, 1787).	French angelfish,	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
	Pomacanthus rhomboides (Gilchrist & Thompson, 1908).	Old woman angelfish,	western Indian Ocean
	Pomacanthus semicirculatus (Cuvier, 1831).	Semicircle angelfish,	east coast of Africa to Fiji and Japan, the east coast of Australia and New Caledonia.
	Pomacanthus sexstriatus (Cuvier, 1831).	Sixbar angelfish,	South Pacific reefs, most commonly the Great Barrier Reef of Australia's north-east coast
	Pomacanthus xanthometopon (Bleeker, 1853).	Yellowface angelfish, Blueface angelfish,	Maldive Islands, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, northern Australia and Micronesia
	Pomacanthus zonipectus (Gill, 1862).	Cortez angelfish,	Eastern Pacific

Gallery

• 
  Bluering angelfish, Pomacanthus annularis
• 
  Yellowbar angelfish, Pomacanthus maculosus
• 
  Emperor angelfish, Pomacanthus imperator
• 
  Semicircle angelfish, Pomacanthus semicirculatus
• 
  Bluegirdled angelfish, Pomacanthus navarchus

Notes

1. Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 364: 560. Retrieved 2008-01-08.

References

• Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2006). Species of Pomacanthus in FishBase. January 2006 version.