King Angelfish (Holocanthus passer)
- Max. Length
- 35 centimeters
- Length at 1st Maturity
- 21.5 centimeters
- Weight
- 800 grams
- Depth Range
- 4 – 30 meters (13 – 100 feet)
- Frequency
- Abundant but threatened for Live Aquarium Fish Trade
You can easily identify this non-migratory tropical fish through its brown-blue bodies with a bright bluish rim around the fins except for the caudal fins which are yellow.
Another easy identifying mark for a king angelfish is the single vertical band formed from a white streak marking in the middle of its body that runs from the dorsal fin up to the upper portion of its belly. Although they are one of the few species of Angelfish where the males looks identical with the female, their juveniles looks different which are primarily yellow orange in color with an iridescent blue rim around the fins and an orange mask around the eye.
Its Role in a Cleaning Station
While biologically described as a diurnal grazer feeding on algae, sponges and sessile invertebrates, King Angelfish also participates in the cleaning process of large pelagic species like hammerhead sharks where they can get a free meal out of parasites and dead sharks skin. But despite being considered as one of the largest species of angelfish and one of the larger constituent in a cleaning station, they only come second in terms of a lead act in a car wash station. This is especially true if the cleaning station is manned by several species of cleaner fish like the barberfish.
If real actors are building their reputation to get a lead role in a movie, so does a King Angelfish. During your underwater exploration in Cocos Island, you can observe that there are a few cleaning station manned solely by a school of King Angelfish. Sometimes this car wash station are being accompanied by its close kin, the Cortez Angelfish (Pomacanthus zonipectus). Most of their clients here have a skin condition that are hard to scrape-off but can easily be addressed by angelfish courtesy of the strong scraping powers of their teeth, as compared to the gentle scraping made by barberfish.
As the competition for the best supporting actor in a car wash station is growing more stiffer and hotter, allow us to end this article with a caution to all who are joining this prestigious award:
Notice
- From
- Mr. Holly Passer
- To
- All Fellow Cleaner Fish
- Where
- Surrounding Waters of Cocos Island
- Subject
- Do not mess with the King Angelfish
- Remarks
- If you think King Angelfish can no longer go on with the competition, think again. Let it be known to all cleaner fish that the clan of the King Angelfish are ready go on a No Holds Barred and that the strong spike located under their lower cheek will now be shifted from defense to an attack mode.
Reference
Fishbase: www.fishbase.org
IUCN Redlist of Threatened Species: www.iucnredlist.org
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org
Video courtesy from Our Oceans
