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Genicanthus bellus

Ornate Angelfish

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Type	Description	Download
Image:	Adult - Male	29KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Ornate Angelfish, Bellus Lyretail Angelfish; German Pracht-Lyrakaiserfisch; French Poisson-ange Lyre Splendide

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Cocos - Tahiti; n. to Marshall Is

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; PLUS: RR (Sims, photo). Outer reef-slope, 72 metres.; Marine, near-shore, outer reef-slope; 25-100m, on steep current-swept slopes, to a few metres of substrate

KEY FEATURES: To 15cm SL., sexually dimorphic. Deep bodied (2.5x in SL), short snout, long spine on gill cover, high doesal fin and long lunate tail. FEMALE silver-grey with wide black markings trimmed white: two bars - one above the eye, and the longer behind the eye. The second bar dorsally joins a black stripe along Dorsal Fin, and cnetrally joins a diagonal stripe ending one lower margin of the tail. MALE silver-grey with a golden midside stripe and another along the base of the Dorsal Fin.

SIMILAR SPECIES: See under Watanabe's Angelfish (Genicanthus watanabei).

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
P

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Genicanthus bellus Randall, 1975
TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CHORDATA; GNATHOSTOMATA (Jawed Vertebrates); PISCES; OSTEICHTHYES; Perciformes; Percoidei; Percoidea; POMACANTHIDAE

More Information

GENERAL NOTE: Genicanthus is the only genus of angelfishes that are markedly sexually dimorphic, have a lunate tail and feed on plankton often venturing several meters away from the substrate.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: Photos 2 males 73m depth Ngatangiia ID N.Sims, confirmed Randall (Sims88).

References:
text p.161 Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
p.359 Burgess et al. (1988) Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes (TFH)
plate 71-05 Lieske & Myers (1996) Coral Reef Fishes

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM06a, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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