French Angelfish

Nature 2 Minutes

June is the month of couples and weddings (in my mind, at least) so I looked for a fish that is frequently found in pairs…viola…the French Angelfish!

From thoughtco.com:

French angelfish are part of class Osteichthyes and live in coral reefs in the Western Atlantic, from the Bahamas to Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico. Their scientific name, Pomacanthus paru, comes from the Greek words for cover (poma) and spine (akantha) due to their protruding spines. French angelfish are very curious, territorial, and often travel in pairs.

Description

French angelfish have thin bodies with protruding lower jaws, small mouths, and comb-like teeth. They have black scales with a bright yellow rim, and their eyes have yellow at the outer portion of the iris. Juveniles have a dark brown or black body with vertical yellow bands. As they mature, the scales begin to develop yellow rims, while the rest of the body remains black.

These fish commonly swim at depths of 15 feet, traveling in pairs in coral reefs near sponges. They are strongly territorial and will fight with neighboring pairs over areas. Due to their small bodies, French angelfish are able to swim into narrow cracks between corals to hunt and hide from predators. They swim by rowing their pectoral fins, and their long tail fins allow them to turn quickly.

Habitat and Distribution

French angelfish occur in coral reefs, rocky bottoms, grassy flats, and other places that provide coverage in tropical coastal waters. They have been found in the Atlantic Ocean off the coasts of Florida down to Brazil. They also appear in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and occasionally off the coast of New York. French angelfish can survive a wide variety of environments due to their salinity tolerance.

Adult angelfish’s diet mostly consists of sponges and algae. Many sponges have a V-shaped pattern due to French angelfish bites. They also eat cnidarians including zoantharians and gorgonians, as well as other aquatic invertebrate animals such as bryozoans and tunicates. Young angelfish eat algae, detritus, and ectoparasites cleaned off other fish. In reef ecosystems, young French angelfish set up “cleaning stations” for a variety of fish clients as a way for them to control parasites. They do so by touching the body of fish clients with their pelvic fins to remove parasites. This specialized function rivals other cleaners like gobies and shrimp. Client fish include jacks, morays, surgeonfish, and snappers, among many others.

Adults form pairs, staying with their mate for life. These pairs search the corals for food during the day and hide from predators at night in cracks in the reefs. Despite being very territorial, adult French angelfish have been known to be very curious towards divers.

Reproduction and Offspring

French angelfish reach sexual maturity when they are around 3 years of age and about 10 inches long. Spawning occurs from April to September. They are nest non-guarders and reproduce in pairs via external fertilization. Unlike other fish that spawn in the open, French angelfish mate exclusively with their partner. The male and female will travel to the surface where they release both eggs and sperm into the water. The eggs are only 0.04 inches in diameter and hatch 15 to 20 hours after fertilization. These eggs develop in plankton beds until they can travel down to the coral reef.

SOURCE: THOUGHTCO.COM

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Published by pat frederick

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47 thoughts on “French Angelfish”

          1. Well we’re basically the oddballs in every other way in my family. My parents in April, bro’s first marriage in Oct, & second marriage ??? (secret in Vegas) but “faked” a wedding in December, little bro in August. It’s not like Me to be conventional in Any sense LOL

            Liked by 1 person

  2. Well a just walked past a stain on the carpet that suddenly had a nice tempo and was moving asap. A little tree frog got into the house. LOL
    Was able to grab him and rehome him outside. Was a little one. 🥰

    Liked by 2 people

            1. the only wasps I don’t swat are the mud wasps that seem to like one part of the logs on the side. they never bother anybody.
              I tie a ( slightly inflated) brown paper bag to the light outside and that usually keeps all sorts of flying bees, hornets and yellow jackets away. it doesn’t work on carpenter bees but we have traps for those. the last paper bag lasted 2 years before succumbing to the weather. I gotta get another one out there.
              (lots of bees mistake the bag for a large nest)

              Liked by 1 person

  4. Morning All!

    it’s above 50*!!! and thin clouds out there, but it might turn into a sunny day. wow!

    the oriole has finished her nest for sure because the yarn i put out for her yesterday afternoon was in a little pile when i brought the feeders in. and i always left them as strands laying on the railing so she could easily grab one.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. MAGA Minuteman
    June 4, 2025 5:17 am

    Two recent Truth Social posts from President Trump:

    Donald J. Trump

    @realDonaldTrump
    ·
    19h

    Rand Paul has very little understanding of the BBB, especially the tremendous GROWTH that is coming. He loves voting “NO” on everything, he thinks it’s good politics, but it’s not. The BBB is a big WINNER!!!

    https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/114619628833129608

    =============

    Donald J. Trump

    @realDonaldTrump
    ·
    19h

    Rand votes NO on everything, but never has any practical or constructive ideas. His ideas are actually crazy (losers!). The people of Kentucky can’t stand him. This is a BIG GROWTH BILL!

    https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/114619648032728687

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Katie Pavlich
        @KatiePavlich
        Something that’s been buried in the Big Beautiful Bill conversation:

        It funds the entire border wall – infrastructure and technology – to the point Trump won’t have to ask for funding again during his second term to get it done.

        Like

  12. Kelly Victory MD
    @DrKellyVictory
    In her own book, Dr. Deborah Birx ADMITS that she participated in knowingly misleading @realDonaldTrump
    regarding the lockdown, as well as the benefits of school closures etc. Someone who purposely misled the President should NOT be on ANY federal advisory panel for ANYTHING! @SecKennedy
    @RobertKennedyJr

    Like

  13. OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Marica
    June 4, 2025 at 9:22 am Edit

    I texted her to “get home safe and sound! We have a party waiting for her”!

    Filly Responded…”I’m trying! I crashed bigly last night-almost died, never so scared in my entire life-so grateful they brought me back! Major changes have to be made. Thank you so much for standing w/ me! I need you all!

    I asked if they will let her go home today…

    She said “Hopefully since sis will be with me and oxygen is available…”

    Keep prayers going Peeps!

    Like

  14. Futurist™
    @americasgreat
    BREAKING: Mike Pompeo just happens to be a board member of the Ukrainian telecom company, Kyivstar, parent company VEON. All roads lead back to corruption.

    July 2024, Pompeo presented a plan that read like a wish list for the U.S. weapons industry and Ukrainian business interests: create a $500 billion “lend-lease” program for Ukraine to buy weapons, “bulk up America’s defense industry” and “swiftly admit Ukraine [to the European Union] and help it modernize and develop its economy.”

    It is not about peace, it is about money.

    Like

  15. Winston

    June 4, 2025 9:02 am

    LOL! 

    AI = Actually Indians?

    Bernhard Engelbrecht
    @BernhardEngel

    The Natasha neural network turned out to be 700 Indian programmers

    The startup BuilderAI offered to write any application, like in a constructor, by selecting the necessary functions.

    In reality, customer requests were sent to the Indian office, where 700 Indians wrote code instead of AI.

    With the help of this scam, the startup attracted $445 million in investments from major IT giants, including Microsoft, over eight years.

    At the same time, the applications “written by AI” constantly glitched, the code was unreadable, the functions did not work — in general, everything was like real artificial intelligence.

    After the deception was exposed, the startup officially went bankrupt.

    Like

  16. Secretary Sean Duffy
    @SecDuffy
    .@USDOT
    has found that the California high speed rail project is in default of its federal grant awards totaling $4 billion.

    Here’s the cold, hard truth – there’s no viable path to complete the rail project on time or on budget. California is on notice — If they can’t deliver on their end of the deal, it could soon be time for these funds to flow to other projects that can achieve @POTUS
    ’ vision of building great, big, beautiful things again.

    Max Gorden
    @Max_Gorden
    New this morning: after an investigation, the Department of Transportation is ready to pull the plug on federal funding for California’s high speed rail project @FoxBusiness
    10:01 AM · Jun 4, 2025
    ·
    106.8K
    Views

    Like

  19. Kevin Dalton
    @TheKevinDalton
    The Ivanpah solar power facility in California is shutting down next year.

    The 2 BILLION dollar blight built on 3,500 pristine acres of Mojave desert has been responsible for incinerating more than 60,000 birds, created TWICE the pollution of a typical power plant, created 86 jobs instead of the promised 2000, and will abandon 173,500 thermal collectors in the environment they were trying to save

    Like

  22. Nick Sortor
    @nicksortor
    🚨 #BREAKING: A Biden judge has just BLOCKED the Trump administration from deporting the family of Boulder terrorist Mohamed Soliman

    WTF??!

    THEY HAVE NO BUSINESS HERE. SEND THEM ANYWAY.

    Like

  23. kea
    June 4, 2025 at 5:11 pm Edit

    Eric Daugherty

    @EricLDaugh

    Follow

    🚨 BREAKING: Trump administration officially notifies left-wing, pro-Palestine Columbia University that they NO LONGER meet national standards for being accredited.

    They were found to have violated federal Civil Rights law.

    MAJOR FAFO moment right here.

    Like

    1. Wethal

      June 4, 2025 5:18 pm

      Colorado federal judge just issued a restraining order barring the administration from deporting the Colorado terrorist’s family back to Egypt.

      Family is currently in federal custody in Texas, so the jurisdictional issues could be interesting.

      Texas appeals go to the Fifth Circuit. Alito is the supervising justice.

      Colorado appeals go to the Tenth Circuit. Gorsuch is the supervising justice.

      https://nypost.com/2025/06/04/us-news/deportation-of-boulder-terror-suspect-mohamed-solimans-wife-and-five-children-blocked-by-biden-appointed-judge/

      Like

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