Gray angelfish
species of fish
The gray angelfish (Pomacanthus arcuatus), also written as grey angelfish and known in Jamaica as the pot cover, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the marine angelfish family, Pomacanthidae. It is found in the Western Atlantic Ocean.
Taxonomy
The gray angelfish was first formally described in 1758 as Chaetodon arcuatus
by Carolus Linnaeus in the 10th Edition of his Systema Naturae with the type locality given as "Indiis". When Lacépède created the genus Pomacanthus, he used Linnaeus's Chaetodon arcuatus as its type species. When Pomacanthus is subdivided into subgenera, this species is placed in the subgenus Pomacanthus. The specific name arcuatus means "bowed", referring to the curved lines on the body.
Distribution
The gray angelfish is found in the Western Atlantic Ocean from New York to Rio de Janeiro, though it is typically not found north of Florida during the winter. Its range extends to all of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It has been introduced to Bermuda from the Bahamas.
Description
The gray angelfish has a disk-shaped, compressed body with a large head and small snout.
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