Blue Angelfish, Holacanthus bermudensis
Blue Angelfish, Holacanthus bermudensis. Fish caught from coastal waters off Boca Raton, Florida, August 2024. Length 33 cm (13 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of James Lafontaine, Long Island, New York.
The Blue Angelfish, Holacanthus bermudensis, is a member of the Angelfish or Pomacanthidae Family, that are also known as the Bermuda Blue Angelfish and in Mexico as chabelita azul and isabelita azul. Globally, there are eleven species in the genus Holacanthus, of which five are found in Mexican waters, three in the Atlantic and two in the Pacific Ocean.
The Blue Angelfish has a deep oval lateral compressed body. Adults have bluish yellowish bodies with a yellow face. They have blue marking on the chest and forehead, blue and yellow pectoral fins, and a caudal fin with yellow margins. Their anal and dorsal fins have yellow margins and long yellow streamers with white tips that develop with maturity. The juveniles are dark blue with a yellow tail, a yellow area around the pectoral fins, and brilliant blue vertical bars on the body. The juveniles of the blue and the queen angelfish are very similar in appearance that the only way to distinguish them from one another by the curvature of the bars on the body – straighter in juvenile blue angelfish. As the juveniles mature their color gradually changes from the dark blues of youth to the blues, greens, and yellows of the adults. Their head has a short blunt rounded snout and a small protractile mouth equipped with brush-like teeth. Their gill cover has one large spine. Their anal fin has 3 spines and 20 or 21 rays; their dorsal fin is long and continuous and has 15 spines and 19 to 21 soft rays. Ttheir caudal fin in adults is straight. Their body is covered with large and rough scales. Their lateral line ends under the soft dorsal fin.
The Blue Angelfish is a diurnal species that is found within coral and rocky reefs close to the bottom at depths up to 92 m (300 feet). They take shelter within coral reefs at night to avoid predation. Juveniles are found in more sheltered inshore environmens. They reach a maximum of 45 cm (18 inches) in length and 1.6 kg (3.5 lbs) in weight. Adults feed primarily on sponges and limited amounts of algae, corals and tunicates. Juveniles act as cleaner fish, feeding on the ectoparasites picked from the skin of other fishes visiting communal cleaning stations. They have the ability to produce loud thumping sounds which are thought to startle predators and draw the attention of conspecifics. Reproduction is monogamous and oviparous with external fertilization. Each female releases between 25,000 and 75,000 eggs per day and up to 10,000,000 eggs per spawning cycle. Eggs are pelagic and hatch 15 to 20 hours post-fertilization.
The Blue Angelfish is most likely confused with the Queen Angelfish, Holacanthus ciliaris (yellow tail and a ringed circle with blue spots on the forehead).
The Blue Angelfish is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean with the exception that they are absent from the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula south to Belize.
From a conservation perspective the Blue Angelfish is currently considered to be of Least Concern, being common throughout their range with stable populations. They are not sought after as a food fish as they are known to contain ciguatoxin. Juveniles are highly prized by the aquarium trade, but are difficult to maintain. They are known to hybridize with the Queen Angelfish.