Centropyge heraldi

Centropyge heraldi, the yellow angelfish or Herald's angelfish is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a marine angelfish belonging to the family Pomacanthidae. It comes from the Pacific Ocean and sometimes makes its way into the aquarium trade.

Centropyge heraldi
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Acanthuriformes
Family:	Pomacanthidae
Genus:	Centropyge
Species:	C. heraldi
Binomial name
Centropyge heraldi Woods & Schultz, 1953
Synonyms[2]
Pomacanthus heraldi (Woods & Schultz, 1953)

Etymology

The angelfish is named after Earl Stannard Herald. He died in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, in a scuba diving accident.^[3]

Description

Centropyge heraldi is a yellowish orange fish. There is a patch of darker olive, with some spots concolorous with the body, within it around the eye.^[4] The dorsal fin contains 15 spines and 15 soft rays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 17 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of 12 centimetres (4.7 in).^[2]

Distribution

Centropyge heraldi has a wide range in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. This range extends from southern Japan and Taiwan east as far as the Tuamotu Islands and south to Australia.^[1] In Australia it can be found along the Great Barrier Reef south to the Solitary Islands in New South Wales, as well as on some Coral Sea reefs.^[4]

Habitat and biology

Centropyge heraldi is found at depths between 8 and 45 metres (26 and 148 ft) and is most commonly recorded on outer reef slopes, and occasionally on lagoon reefs.^[1] This species is usually found in small harems of a male and one to three females. Females may change to males when there is no male present.^[4] It is a herbivorous species which feeds on filamentous algae.^[1]

Systematics

Centropyge heraldi was first formally described in 1953 by the Americans Loren Paul Woods (1914-1979) and Leonard Peter Schultz (1901-1986) with the type locality given as Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.^[5] The specific name honours the American ichthyologist and public aquarium director Earl Stannard Herald (1914-1973) who assisted in the collection of the type. Within the genus Centropyge this species is considered, by some authorities, to be in the subgenus Centropyge.^[3]

Utilisation

Centropyge heraldi sometimes appears in the aquarium trade.^[1]