In principle, it is not difficult to recognize an adult angel fish: it has a flat body, bright and variegated color with large various stripes. Due to its "tropical" shape, this amazing fish can easily hide from predators in corals, and its unique stripes make the angel fish almost invisible.
Angel fish - who is it?
Scientists all over the world consider angel fish to be a real beauty in the underwater kingdom, since very few fish have such a unique combination of colors. There are hundreds of varieties of coloring of these creatures, and sometimes they are even capable of disguising themselves as the so-called butterfly fish.
The angel fish is a representative of the order of perches and the family of marine bony fish. As mentioned above, the characteristic feature of the angel fish is a very bright and unique color of the whole body. In addition, these creatures have a powerful rearward spine at the bottom of the gills. Usually it has its own color, different from the main one. The family of these fish currently includes 9 genera and 74 species.
In length, the angel fish can reach 60 cm, but there are also real dwarfs among them. For example, the smallest representative of the family of these unique fish is the so-called centropig. The length of its body is no more than 10 cm. Ichthyologists note that it is problematic to immediately recognize young individuals of this fish species, since they are colored completely differently than adults. Moreover, these differences are so obvious that for a long time ichthyologists attributed the young to a separate species of these fish.
It is worth noting that such a difference in color is nothing more than a disguise from aggressive adult relatives: due to its similarity with older comrades, young animals can calmly exist in their territories. By the age of two years of life, young angel fish become similar to their adult relatives. As a matter of fact, at this age they grow up themselves. It was at this time that they embark on an independent voyage, creating their own "families".
Angel fish lifestyle
Angelfish lives in the tropical waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. Its favorite habitats are coastal waters and areas of coral reefs at completely different depths (from 3 to 60 m). The angel fish feeds on completely different foods: both small marine animals and algae. Both omnivores and natural-born vegetarians are often found.
Among angel fish, you can find specimens with huge mouths that they need for good nutrition: the fish, swimming over the corals, sucks in food with its mouth, like a vacuum cleaner. The character of the angel fish is aggressive towards its own relatives. These are territorial creatures for whom personal space is of great importance.
Ichthyologists note that representatives of this charismatic family of fish are characterized by a complete hierarchy of species: large fish inhabit territories of about a thousand square meters, and dwarfs can count on only one coral colony.
Pisces-angels are predominantly monogamous creatures that form long-term "married" couples. In some cases, they can form small harem clusters of five females and one male. Both "harems" and "families" can exist for a lifetime. As a rule, these fish aggressively defend the honor of their “family”, actively defending their territories.
