Blue Ring Angelfish

The Blue Ring or Blue-Ringed Angelfish is also known as the Annularis Angelfish and the Blue King Angelfish. It is a good candidate for intermediate marine aquarists. The Blue Ring originates in the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans from Sri Lank to the Philippines. It can be found lurking among caves and hidden areas in coral reefs from 5m to 30m in depth.

The pomachanthid family is named after the Latin words "pom" (cover) and "acanthus" (thorn), which refers to its large spine on the lower, rear margin of its gill cover. This spine distinguishes angelfish from butterflyfish. The spine gets easily tangled in nets and injures intruding fish. Many pomachanthidae share a common characteristic that the young are a totally different color pattern than the adults. In fact the young of differing species can look more related to each other than to their parents. The Blue Ring Angelfish is typical of this pattern.

The juveniles stay nearer to the surface than the adults. Juveniles are dark blue to almost black, with white curved bars on the body. The juveniles are often confused with the Goldtailed Angelfish, Pomacnathus chrysurus. The latter is distinguished by its yellow caudal fin. When young, all Blue Rings are females. The adult Blue Rings become dark orange to brown with distinctive blue curves and a blue ring just above and behind gill cover. There are also two blue stripes on the face - one through the eye and one below this. The caudal fin is white with a yellow fringe. In the wild, adults can grow to 45 cm.