Blue ring angelfish
| Blue ring angelfish | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Family: | Pomacanthidae |
| Genus: | Pomacanthus |
| Species: | P. annularis |
| Binomial name | |
| Pomacanthus annularis (Bloch, 1787) | |
The blue ring angelfish (Pomacanthus annularis) is an angelfish of the family Pomacanthidae, found in the Indo-West Pacific oceans from East Africa, throughout Indonesia and New Guinea to New Caledonia, north to southern Japan.
In the aquarium
It is highly sought after and prized member of the Pomacanthus genus, composed of large marine angelfish. Blue ring angelfish can reach up to 12 inches in the wild and often obtain lengths near that in captivity.
It bears a considerable resemblance to the Emperor Angelfish in that it undergoes changes in coloring in its development from youth to maturity. The young of the blue ring angelfish are at first a dark blue, almost black, with broad turquoise and white vertical stripes. Adults will exhibit a violet coloring with semicircular marks on the middle of the body.
In the aquarium blue ring angelfish are algae grazers but consume fish and coral flesh as well. They are known to eat shrimps and nibble on both large polyped stony and small polyped stony corals. Overall most seasoned reef aquarists do not recommend keeping this species in a reef aquarium due to these habits.
References
- Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2006). "Pomacanthus annularis" in FishBase. May 2006 version.
- Blue Ring Angelfish (Pomacanthus annularis)
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