French Angelfish

The French Angelfish (Pomacanthus paru) is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a marine angelfish belonging to the family Pomacanthidae. The body of the French angelfish is almost round and laterally compressed. The deep head has a short snout that ends in a tiny mouth with several bristle-like teeth. There is no spine on the operculum or under the eye, but there is a clear spine at the corner of the preoperculum. The largest overall length of this species is 41.1 centimeters. The juveniles are almost all black save from five curved vertical yellow bands on the body, the first one at the mouth and the last one at the caudal peduncle.

The French angelfish can be found in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, including the Antilles and Roatan, the western Atlantic from New York and the Bahamas to Brazil, as well as the eastern Atlantic from Ascension Island and St. Paul's Rocks. It is frequently seen near sea fans and on stony and coral reefs where it typically occurs in pairs. Sponge, algae, bryozoans, zoantharians, gorgonians, and tunicates are all part of its diet. These pairs are fiercely protective of their territory, and they frequently fight back against intruders together.