Pomacanthus is a genus of marine angelfish that is usually found around reefs and coral. Some of the notable places one can see these vari-coloured fish includes the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Sipidan off the southern coast of Sabah, Malaysia. Generally the patterns and colors of these fish undergo a major transformation from juvenile to adult forms. The juveniles may even appear to be a different species.
The following 13 species are classified within the genus Pomacanthus:
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pomacanthus annularis (Bloch, 1787). | Bluering angelfish, | the Indo-West Pacific oceans from East Africa, throughout Indonesia and New Guinea to New Caledonia, north to southern Japan. | |
| Pomacanthus arcuatus (Linnaeus, 1758). | Gray angelfish, | western Atlantic from New England to the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and also the Bahamas, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean, including the Antilles | |
| Pomacanthus asfur (Forsskål, 1775). | Arabian angelfish, | the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to Zanzibar. It can be found also in the Persian Gulf. | |
| Pomacanthus chrysurus (Cuvier, 1831). | Goldtail angelfish, | western Indian Ocean (South Africa including Comoros, Seychelles and Madagascar) | |
| Pomacanthus imperator (Bloch, 1787). | Emperor angelfish, | the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from the Red Sea to Hawaii and the Austral Islands. | |
| Pomacanthus maculosus (Forsskål, 1775). | Yellowbar angelfish, | the Persian Gulf, the northwestern Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea | |
| Pomacanthus navarchus (Cuvier, 1831). | Blue-girdled angelfish, | the Indo-Pacific region | |
| Pomacanthus paru (Bloch, 1787). | French angelfish, | western Atlantic from New York and the Bahamas to Brazil, and also the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, including the Antilles, Roatan, and the eastern Atlantic from around Ascension Island and St. Paul's Rocks | |
| Pomacanthus rhomboides (Gilchrist & Thompson, 1908). | Old woman angelfish, | western Indian Ocean | |
| Pomacanthus semicirculatus (Cuvier, 1831). | Semicircle angelfish, | east coast of Africa to Fiji and Japan, the east coast of Australia and New Caledonia. | |
| Pomacanthus sexstriatus (Cuvier, 1831). | Sixbar angelfish, | South Pacific reefs, most commonly the Great Barrier Reef of Australia's north-east coast | |
| Pomacanthus xanthometopon (Bleeker, 1853). | Yellowface angelfish, Blueface angelfish, | Maldive Islands, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, northern Australia and Micronesia | |
| Pomacanthus zonipectus (Gill, 1862). | Cortez angelfish, | Eastern Pacific | |
The genus Pomacanthus was created in 1802 by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède (1756-1825) with the type species being designated as Chaetodon arcuatus. The name is a compound of poma meaning"lid" and acanthus which means "thorn", a reference to the prominents spine on the rear margin of the operculum, a feature shared by all the marine angelfishes.[1]
Some authorities divide the genus up into the following subgenera:[1]