Spectacular vibrant colors make Queen Angelfish (Holacanthus ciliaris), my favorite Angelfish, one of the most attractive coral reef fish in Bayahibe area. It’s very common to see them in the depth from 20 to 80 feet – rarely deeper. We have couple of them at St. George wreck that is sitting at the sandy bottom 140 ft deep. Sometimes they are shy and scared of the scuba divers, but occasionally they are curious and observe divers from the distance. Adult male usually grows to 8 to 14 inches, max 18 inches. The color of Queen angelfish is blue to greenish blue with yellow edged scales, ventral and pectoral fins are yellow, dorsal and anal fins have brilliant blue trim. Mouth and the markings on the gill covers are deep blue,  yellowish face and the tale is bright yellow. The name “queen” comes from the distinctive feature – dark blue spot on the forehead with dots and brilliant blue ring around , forming the “crown”.

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.

Tags: fish

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 1:12 PM and is filed under *Sharky's Blog*, Underwater Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.