With their bright colours and deep, laterally compressed bodies, marine angelfishes are some of the more conspicuous residents of the reef.

Marine angelfish are distinguished from butterflyfish by the presence of strong preopercle spines (part of the gill covers) in the former.

When kept in aquariums they can easily adapt to pH and hardness changes in water and can handle conditions that are not considered to be perfect.

With neon blue and yellow scales and iridescent purple and orange markings, surprisingly it is not conspicuous, and actually hides very well, and is very shy.

When they reach adulthood, they turn a grayish color with yellow and blue fins and dark spots on their bodies.

Thought to correspond to social rank, these colour shifts are not necessarily confined to males; all marine angelfish species are known to be protogynous hermaphrodites.

As pelagic spawners, marine angelfishes release many tiny buoyant eggs into the water which then become part of the plankton.

The eggs float freely with the currents until hatching, with a high number falling victim to planktonic feeders.