Holacanthus africanus, also known as the Guinean angelfish or West African angelfish, is a captivating marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Pomacanthidae. This exquisite species is found in the warmer sections of the eastern Atlantic Ocean off the coast of West Africa.
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Description:
- Juveniles: The juvenile Guinean angelfish has a dark blue body with thin light blue vertical bars on either side of the eye. They also have a yellow caudal fin and yellow lips with a broad vertical white band in the middle of their flanks.
- Adults: As they mature, the blue changes to olive green, with the white vertical bar on the flanks widening and becoming more yellowish. They also gain an almost black color on the caudal peduncle. There may be yellow areas along the margins of the dorsal and anal fins, and a dark ocellus is visible behind the operculum.
- This species attains a maximum total length of 45 centimeters (18 inches).
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Distribution:
- H. africanus is found from Senegal to the Congo estuary, including the Cape Verde and São Tomé islands.
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Habitat and Biology:
- Depth Range: 1 to 40 meters (3 to 131 feet).
- Preferred Locations: Clear water over rocky reefs.
- Diet: Primarily feeds on sponges, but also consumes tunicates, jellyfish, soft corals, algae, and plankton.
- Around the Cape Verde islands, this species is often found in dense mixed species shoals, with the Guinean angelfish being dominant.
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Systematics:
- First formally described in 1951 by the French ichthyologist Jean Cadenat with the type locality given as Gorée in Senegal.
Holacanthus africanus occasionally appears in the aquarium trade, commanding high prices. Availability increased in the late 2010s.
