The Bermuda blue angelfish, Holacanthus bermudensis, is a species of marine angelfish of the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Pomacanthidae. Holocanthus bermudensis should not be confused with Holocanthus ciliaris, or queen angelfish

Queen Angelfish

The queen angelfish is an angelfish commonly found near reefs in the warmer sections of the western Atlantic Ocean.-Description:...

, despite very similar appearances. They are two separate species.

Description

A Bermuda blue angelfish is blue-brown in color with green hues and bright yellow on the tip of its tail and fins. Their young, however, have a completely different coloration. A young blue angelfish is dark blue with a yellow tail and some yellow on its fins. It also has vertical blue bars on its body. As it ages, the bars fade away and the body color becomes lighter and some browns and greens are added.

The Bermuda blue angelfish can grow up to 18 inches in length. It has a large mouth and comb-like teeth. It is often collected for aquariums. This fish occasionally breeds with the queen angelfish, which is very similar to it. This hybrid is called the townsend angelfish. An adult blue angelfish can produce a loud thumping sound that warns predators and also startles divers.

Habitat

It is found in the western Atlantic part of from Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

, the Bahamas and Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 to the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

, and also to Yucatan

Yucatán

Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

.

The Bermuda blue angelfish tends to stay near rocks, coral

Coral

Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...

, and sponges at depths of between 6½ and 300 feet (2–92 m). It also lives around boulders, in caves, and crevices in shallow water. Young blue angelfish tend to live in bays and channels.

Diet

The Bermuda blue angelfish feeds primarily on sponges, but also feeds on tunicate

Tunicate

Tunicates, also known as urochordates, are members of the subphylum Tunicata, previously known as Urochordata, a group of underwater saclike filter feeders with incurrent and excurrent siphons that is classified within the phylum Chordata. While most tunicates live on the ocean floor, others such...

s, jellyfish

Jellyfish

Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. Medusa is another word for jellyfish, and refers to any free-swimming jellyfish stages in the phylum Cnidaria...

, and corals as well as plankton

Plankton

Plankton are any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...

 and algae

Algae

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...

. Young blue angelfish eat parasites on other fish at "cleaning stations". Also 95% of their diet consists on sponges. Although in home aquariums, aquarists have been successful in providing the Queen Angelfish a diet of meaty and algae based foods

Reproduction

The Bermuda blue angelfish has no specific breeding period, so they breed year round. When they do breed, the female can release from 25 to 75 thousand eggs each day, totaling up to 10 million eggs each breeding cycle. The eggs are transparent and contain a drop of oil for buoyancy. The eggs hatch shortly after, and the fish that emerge are in a pre-larva state and they do not have guts, eyes, or fins, and are attached to a yolk sac. After two days, the yolk sac is gone and the fish are in a larva state and eat plankton

Plankton

Plankton are any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...

. These fish grow very fast.

Distribution

The Bermuda blue angelfish ranges along the Tropical Eastern Atlantic, common in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, and rarer further south in the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

.

In the aquarium

Although, the Bermuda blue angelfish is considered to be moderate in difficulty to keep in captivity, it is ill-suited for the inexperienced aquarist. They are an aggressive species that require a large aquarium. Most aquarists recommend a minimum tank size anywhere from 150 on up to 180 gallons. The Bermuda blue angelfish will harass other fish without discrimination, particularly new additions to the aquarium. It should be the last fish added to any system. It is not a reef safe fish, and larger specimens may nip at or consume corals, particularly stony or soft ones, and ornamental invertebrates.