Name: Yellowbar Angelfish
Local name: Anfouz
Scientific name: Pomacanthus maculosus
Classification: Class: ray-finned fishes; Order: perch-likes; Family: angelfishes (Pomacanthidae)
Size: It reaches a total length of 32 cm.
Habitat:
The Yellowbar Angelfish, the only representative of this family in the Arabian Gulf, usually inhabits sheltered, often silty, coral areas, at depths between 4 m and 40 m. It is solitary and feeds on sponges and algae.
Distribution:
This species is restricted to the Western Indian Ocean, ranging from the Red Sea and eastern Africa in the west to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Gulf in the east.
Conservation status:
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species classifies the Yellowbar Angelfish as Least Concern (LC) in both its global assessment and the regional assessment for the Arabian Gulf. It is caught by traps (gargoor) and gillnets. It is also important for the aquarium trade.
Description:
The body is deep and compressed, the mouth small with brush-like teeth, and there is a prominent spine at the corner of the preopercle. In adults, the soft portions of the dorsal and anal fins are prolonged into filaments extending beyond caudal-fin margin. Adult specimens are brownish yellow, scale edges being blue, which is the predominating color. There is an irregular, broad yellow bar near the middle of the body, and vertically elongate, dark blue spots anteriorly. The caudal fin is pale yellow with irregular blue lines. Juveniles are black with numerous, slightly curved, vertical blue lines and three wider white lines. The caudal fin is colored like the body on the basal two-thirds, and pale yellowish posteriorly.
