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Blueface Angelfish

Blueface Angelfish

Pomacanthus Xanthometopon

Quick Facts

Scientific namePomacanthus Xanthometopon

Other namesBluefaced Angelfish, Yellow-faced Angelfish, Yellowmask Angelfish

SizeUp to 38 cm (15 in)

WeightUp to 1 kg (2.2 lb)

FamilyAngelfish / Pomacanthidae

Distribution

Habitat & AU DistributionClear lagoons, reefs, and surge channels.

The Blueface Angelfish is one of the most striking fish on the coral reef, growing to about 38 cm long. Its vivid blue-and-yellow face makes it hard to miss.
The face is the giveaway: a bright yellow band crosses the eyes like a mask. The lower cheeks are covered in a dense mesh of electric blue lines, and no other angelfish in Australian waters looks quite like it.
Look toward the back of the dorsal fin and you will see a bold black spot. This eyespot sits near the tail end of the fish and is a useful feature for picking it out underwater.
The scales across the body are pale blue, each edged in yellow, giving the fish a finely patterned, almost quilted look from close range.
Young Blueface Angelfishes look completely different from the adults. Juveniles are striped with vertical white bars and pale blue lines, and even their tail fin is barred in two shades of blue. The colours change gradually as they grow.
Juveniles tend to tuck themselves inside caves and crevices on the reef. Adults are less secretive but still favour areas with good coral cover, channels and the slopes of outer reefs.
In Australia, the Blueface Angelfish is known from the offshore islands of north-western Western Australia and the northern Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. It is most reliably seen in areas of healthy, prolific coral growth.
Its range spreads widely across the warm Indo-Pacific, from the Maldives through Indonesia and the Philippines to Japan, Taiwan and Micronesia. Australian waters sit at the southern edge of its range.
This species is usually seen alone or in pairs rather than in groups. It is a solitary fish that tends to hold a home territory on the reef.
The Blueface Angelfish feeds on sponges, sea squirts and other animals that grow encrusted on the reef, as well as algae. It grazes rather than chases, picking food from the reef surface.
Like other angelfishes, it lays eggs that drift freely in open water after spawning. The tiny larvae settle onto the reef as they grow and begin their dramatic colour change into juveniles.
It is found between about 5 and 30 m deep, spending most of its time on the reef rather than out in open water.
Blueface Angelfish typically live for around 10–15 years, and some may live even longer in the right conditions.

Species Interaction

Blueface Angelfish: A Reef Jewel for Divers and Aquarists

Snorkelling & Diving
Aquarium
Research & Rare Encounters
Ecosystem Role

The Blueface Angelfish is best known to two groups of people: divers who encounter it on tropical coral reefs along Australia’s north-west coast and the northern Great Barrier Reef, and aquarists who prize it as one of the more striking large angelfish in the hobby. Its vivid blue face and yellow mask make it immediately recognisable underwater, and sightings on Indo-Pacific reefs are a genuine highlight for snorkellers and divers. Like other large Pomacanthus angelfishes, it is traded in the marine aquarium industry, where demand for bold, colourful reef fish keeps it in circulation internationally.

Species
Sustainability

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Teleostei
Order: Acanthuriformes
Family: Pomacanthidae
Genus: Pomacanthus
Species: Pomacanthus xanthometopon

Conservation Status

The Blueface Angelfish is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, reflecting its wide Indo-Pacific range and the absence of major known threats. Populations are considered common across most of that range. No threatened or protected listing applies under Australia’s EPBC Act.