Fish Identification: Rock Beauty

Video Transcript

"The marine organism we're going to identify now is the rock beauty. The rock beauty is a member of the angelfish family of fishes but it is very distinctive in its appearance. Adult rock beauties have a yellow or, sometimes an orangish yellow, head and tail. The majority of the rest of their body is black but it is generally edged in yellow. The mouth and the eyes might have a bright bluish coloration. They have fairly squarish looking bodies. On some, both the dorsal and anal fins, form long trailing edges that stream behind the fish nearly reaching the end of the tail. Rock beauties are relatively small angelfish, ranging in size from five to twelve inches, with most falling in the five to eight length category. Juvenile rock beauties are quite small, generally, an inch or two inches in length. Their bodies are entirely yellow, except for a small black spot that is rimmed in bright blue that is in the upper back between the tail and the middle of the body. Juveniles are quite shy and will quickly duck into an opening in the coral when they are spotted by divers. Juvenile rock beauties are also frequently found inhabiting fire coral stands, probably for protection. Adult rock beauties can be found in the Gulf of Mexico, along the Tropical East Coast of the US, all the way through the Caribbean and down the Tropical Eastern Coast of South America. They tend to be more common in some specific areas than others but can usually be found throughout this broad range. There are some reports that the specimens found along the North American and South American Coast are less colorful than their Caribbean counterparts but I haven't observed this personally. They inhabit rocky areas and coral reefs and are generally found at depths shallower than eighty feet. Rock beauties generally stay in a fairly well defined area for most of their life. In their territory, they can be seen swimming from rock to rock or coral head to coral head, often as solo specimens. They feed primarily on tunicates, sponges, zoanthids, and algae. I've also watched them feeding, or at least trying to feed, on various types of worms such as Christmas tree worms and feather duster worms. Rock beauties, like all angelfish, are pelagic spawners, this means that the male and female release their sperm and eggs into the water column, in close proximity to one another, where the eggs become fertilized. The eggs are buoyant so they float to the surface, where they drift as part of the marine plankton pool until the fry hatch. As a result, many of the eggs are lost, as they are consumed by planktonic feeders of various types. That's the rock beauty."