Angelfish
angelfish
Lemonpeel Angelfish
Centropyge flavissima
About
The lemonpeel angelfish is a small, bold fish on Indo-Pacific reefs. Its body is a solid, glowing yellow. It grows to about 14 cm. It lives in small groups, one male with several females, moving through the reef together.
Also known as: yellow angel-fish, lemon peel
- Length
- 14 cm
- Depth
- up to 50 m
How to tell it apart
Other small yellow angelfish can look similar at a glance. The gill-cover blotch is the mark to check: it holds steady even when the fish's yellow colour looks brighter or duller in changing light.
Appearance
Its body is a solid, bright yellow, with almost no other colour. A thin bluish-white ring circles each eye. A black blotch sits on the back edge of the gill cover, the bony flap that protects the gills. A blue spine sits near the front of the gill cover. The edges of its dorsal, anal and tail fins carry a fine blue line. Young lemonpeel angelfish look different. Each side has a black eyespot rimmed in blue, near the middle of the body. This spot fades as the fish grows up.
Habitat
Lemonpeel angelfish live on shallow coral reefs across the Indo-Pacific. Their range runs from southern Japan south to Australia, and east into the central Pacific. Some are also found near Indian Ocean islands. They like coral-rich lagoons and outer reef slopes, from close to the surface down to about 50 m. Divers most often see them in the shallower, sunlit water near the reef itself.
Did you know?
This fish's scientific name, flavissima, means "very yellow" - the name French naturalist Georges Cuvier gave it in 1831 when he first described it, from a specimen collected in the Caroline Islands.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
