Lionfish live in underwater caves, ledges, crevices and reef cracks and spend most of the day hiding. They leave their shelters at sunset to look for food and after eating, which takes only about an hour,  they spend the night wandering around in the water.

Juvenile lionfish live together in groups, but the adults look for a companionship only during breeding time. They are very territorial and as they mature, they claim their own territory and will defend it against any other lionfish, regardless of sex. Male lionfish are more aggressive than the females, especially when looking for suitable breeding mates. As they fight they try to sting each other with their venomous dorsal spines.

Lionfish can grow up to 38 centimeters / 15 inches in length but average size is 30 cm / 12 inches.  An adult lionfish can weigh up to 1.2 kg / 2.6 lbs and the lifespan in the wild is on average 15 years.  They have up to 18 delicate needle-like dorsal fins and a long “tentacle” that protrudes above the eyes. The nose is partly covered by flaps and they also have a bony ridge that goes from across the cheek and over the eyes. Their fins have spines that are as sharp as needles, they use them to inject a potent venom into their predators.

The lionfish is considered as one of the most poisonous fish in the world. A sting from a lionfish is very painful to humans and can cause nausea and breathing difficulties, but is rarely fatal. When taking pictures, please do not enter their comfort zone as they might attack.

Cherubfish (centropyge argi) is beautiful little fish usually found everywhere else in reefs and walls deeper than 90 feet (27m). But here in Bayahibe – southern Caribbean they live in shallow reefs about 15 ft (5m) deep. On our dives we can see them almost on daily bases.
Same like other Angelfish, they are territorial and little aggressive towards other species. Cherubfish favor reef environment with dart in and out of holes in rocks and corals. They swim in pairs or small harem like groups.

Cherubfish is the smallest Angelfish in this area, it grows up to 3 inches (8-9 cm), but mostly between 1.5 to 2.5 inches (4-6 cm). Like other Anglefish they have slim compressed body, small mouth with comb like teeth.

Base of the dorsal fin creates few separate spikes. The body is dark purple-blue with bright blue rim at dorsal, anal and parts of the tail fin. Cherubfish have distinctive yellow to orange face and chest. Their eyes are black with thin blue ring around.

Cherubfish is algae eater – grazer

They are very shy and usually hide when approached by divers.

The name Rock beauty (Holacanthus tricolor) speaks for itself- it is really Rock Beauty. Unfortunately is not spotted on every dive as they are more Atlantic fish then Caribbean. Their habitat is only on few dive spots in our area around Saona Island.

Rock Beauty lives on rocky reefs and coral reefs at the depth up to 330 ft (100 m).
It is very, very territorial fish; it’s active in day time and sleeping in caverns and holes during the nights. They hardly ever swim more then few feet from their shelters. Juvenile Rock Beauty prefers reefs covered with fire corals which provide more protection, or they hide in shells. Juveniles unlike the other Angelfish do not attend cleaning stations.

The adults live in pair long lasting relations, usually larger and small individual, maybe a sexual dimorphism exists in this species. Due to their high visibility the Rock Beauty is not a numerous species.

Rock Beauty is relatively small, reaching a maximum length of 12 inches (35 cm), but on average 5-8 inches (12-20 cm). Typically for the Angelfish the Rock Beauty body shape is slim compressed discus, small mouth with bands of comb-like teeth. Dorsal, anal and the top of the tail fins grow long filaments as the fish ages.

It is easy to distinguish Rock Beauty from other Angelfish species by the black and yellow color. You can describe the coloration either like brilliant yellow fish with black body or more accurate description is that the head and tail are bright yellow, and this yellow color forms a rim around the black body. The lips are black sometimes navy blue.

There is no difference in colors between juveniles and adults except the pattern. The young fish are completely yellow with small black spot and blue border ring below dorsal fin. The black spot gradually spreads through the body and the blue ring completely disappears as the fish reach adult size.

Rock beauty feed primarily on sponges, occasionally on corals, tunicates, and algae.

French Angelfish like shallow coral reefs usually less the 15 feet (4.5 m) deep with natural shelters protecting them from nocturnal predators. They are living in pairs and are very territorial. Their reproduction spawning is usually in early mornings from April through September.

French Angelfish can eventually grow up to 2 feet (60 cm), but normal size is around 16 inches (40 cm). They have slim compressed discus shape body with tiny mouth full of small teeth. Pectoral fin extends over the beginning of the anal fin. The tail fin on adults has strait edge and on juveniles the tail fin edge is rounded.

Adult French Angelfish have black scales with golden yellow rims. There is yellow- orangey bar behind the edge of the gill plate cover at the base of pectoral fin. All fins are black and the dorsal fin filament is yellow. The head appears light bluish with the blue eyes surrounded with yellow. Adult French angelfish mainly feed on sponges and also on corals, gorgonians, zoanthids, tunicates, and algae.

Juvenile French Angelfish has five yellow strips on black body, running vertically down to the fins where the bands change from yellow to brilliant blue. Their rounded tail is yellow with large round spot in the middle. Juvenile French Angelfish is very similar to juvenile Gray Angelfish species. Distinctive different is the yellow band that extends down from the forehead, stops at the base of upper lip and splits going around the mouth. The yellow bend on juvenile Gray Angelfish crates a ring around the mouth and continues down. Juveniles feed on ectoparasites at the “cleaning stations” as well

The French Angelfish often interbreed with other Angelfish species producing hybrids sharing different markings and colors.

Tip for underwater photo:

The French angelfish are probably the most curious and make close passes to divers.

They are mostly observed in pairs; the Gray Angelfish live among coral reefs at depths between 6-100 feet (2-30 m), at night the reef offers for them lots of hiding places from predators. Fully grown Gray Angelfish is the largest Angelfish from that group growing up to 2 feet. Theirs reproduction spawning activities occur from April through September.

The juvenile Gray Angelfish prefer more grassy areas and shallow reefs. The whole body is very dark brown, almost black, with five yellow strips. One yellow strip runs from the forehead cross the mouth and yellow ring around the lips. The tail is yellow with black blocks trimmed white or transparent.

When the juveniles turn into adults, the yellow stripes disappear and the whole body changes to gray to grayish-brown color. The body is slim, discus-shaped, with small mouth full of many tiny teeth. The dorsal and anal fins are covered by scales and both are extended into filaments passing the tail fin. Large gray – brown spot develop a in the center of the scales. The fins become darker along the edges, with white trim on back edge of dorsal, anal and tail fins. Inner face of pectoral fin turns into yellow. The mouth area is white.

Gray Angelfish feeds on different algae, sponges, invertebrates including tunicates, hydroids, gorgonians, zoantharians, and bryozoans. Beside algae and detritus, juveniles feed on ectoparasites at the “cleaning stations” as they clean other fish like wrasses, jacks, grunts, snappers, surgeonfish and morays just to name a few

Gray Angelfish appears relatively brave, curious and mostly not afraid of divers, for that reason it’s popular and easy subject for underwater photographers.

Same like Queen Angelfish the adult male Blue Angelfish grows to 8 to 14 inches max 18 inches. Blue Angelfish is purplish to blue with appearing of a grey cast, the edges of the scales are pale. Dorsal, anal and tail fins have yellowish-brown dots and yellow trim. Ventral fin is yellow with blue trim and the pectoral fins are exactly the opposite – blue with yellow trim. Blue Angelfish also has the “crown”, but not as clear as Queen Angelfish.

Juvenile Blue Angelfish have dark blue body with three straight brilliant blue to white stripes, mouth, tail and area around pectoral fin is yellow. The difference between the Queen and the Blue juvenile Angelfish is the middle body stripe; juvenile Queen Angelfish stripes are curved.

Reproduction, habitat and behavior are the same as Queen Angelfish. Queen and Blue Angelfish sometimes interbreed, producing offspring with colors and markings from both species uncommon in Caribbean – some sources describes these hybrids as separate species called Townsend Angelfish.

The young Queen Angelfish have dark blue body with three blue curved stripes, yellow mouth, tail and area around pectoral fin.

The Queen Angelfish live in pairs all year round. They reproduce by swimming up close to the surface, touching with their bellies, releasing clouds of sperm and eggs. One female can produce 30 to 75 thousand eggs every evening, that is 10 million eggs during spawning cycle. The eggs are transparent, buoyant, and pelagic, floating in the water column. After 15 to 20 hours they hatch into larvae. 3-4 weeks after hatching the juveniles settle on the bottom.

Tip for the underwater photo:

The best way to take a picture of Queen Angelfish is to use your dive buddy as a helper. Ask him / her to approach the fish from the front while you are staying motionless, ready with your camera, waiting for the fish to pass by.

We have few different kinds of Angelfish here at Bayahibe dive locations, Queen Angelfish, Blue Angelfish, French Angelfish, Gray Angelfish, Rock Beauty, Cherubfish, Flameback Angelfish to name a few.

They grow over one foot of length, some of them up to two feet (exception for Cherubfish and Flameback which grow up to three inches only).

Adult angelfish body is flattened from side to side; they have long dorsal and anal fins, rounded foreheads and small mouths with many small teeth. The spine starts from the back of the cheek and run over the lower gill cover. Adults have different colors and they are easy to distinguish from each other. On the other hand most juveniles have same colors and markings which make the identification more difficult. Angelfish species feed strictly on sessile benthic invertebrates; sponges, tunicates, bryozoans, and hydroids.

Angelfish find their habitat on shallow reefs, rarely venturing deeper than 150 feet. At night they hide amongst the nooks and crevices of the reef. Some species are solitary in nature, and can be very territorial mated pairs. Some of them form harems with a single male controlling several females. Angelfish are a protogynous hermaphrodite, meaning if the dominant male is removed from his harem, a female will turn into a fully functional male. To reproduce, angelfish release lots of little floating eggs into the water which then become part of the plankton until they hatch.

To show you what you can see underwater when you come to Bayahibe, Dominican Republic, we will make a daily post about  fish that live in our area.

Beside other fish they had five nurse sharks, most of them really small, only about 3 feet long, two or three good size eaglerays chopped already. I couldn’t believe my eyes and I felt like crying. Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera with me to take a picture and report them to the local authorities. For the rest of the day I couldn’t stop thinking about how the people ruin the marine life not realizing that if they don’t let the fish reproduce there won’t be much to fish later on.