Holacanthus passer
King angelfish
Holacanthus passer, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Photo: Graham Edgar
Holacanthus passer, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Photo: Graham Edgar
Holacanthus passer, Malpelo Island, Colombia, Photo: Graham Edgar
Distribution
Tropical Eastern Pacific
Description
Adults blue-grey with a vertical white bar on fore-body, blue margins on dorsal and anal fins and a red submargins, yellow tail and a patch of black containing blue spots on nape. Males with white pelvic fins and females with yellow. Juveniles orange with a blue bar on either side of the eye, a white bar behind head and a series of blue bars on sides. Observed undertaking cleaning activities, adults seen cleaning parasites off sharks.
Information
Max Size: 36 cm
Sea Temperature Range: 20.8-30.3°C
Depth: 1-80m
Habitat Generalization Index: 30.78
Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.
Conservation and Rarity
IUCN Status: Least Concern
Occurrence: Widespread (68.4% of sites)
Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
Abundance: Several (8 per transect)
Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.
Edit by: Joe Shields