French Angelfish

The French angelfish has a deep but vertically compressed body, making it appear flattened from the front. The head is deep, with a short snout that ends in a small mouth containing numerous bristle-like teeth. There is an obvious spine at the corner of the preoperculum while there are no spines on the operculum or under the eye. The dorsal fin contains 10 spines and 29–31 soft rays while the anal fin contains 3 spines and 22–24 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of 41.1 centimetres (16.2 in). Males grow to around 18in (45cm), while females reach a slightly smaller size.

French angelfish can be found in the western Atlantic from Florida to the Gulf of Mexico and down towards Brazil and the Caribbean, including the Antilles, Roatan, and the eastern Atlantic from around Ascension Island and St. Paul's Rocks.

These fish can be seen in water depths above about 15ft, or about 4.5m, and they have also been reported at depths within the mesophotic zone, which is between 30m and 150m, or about 100ft - 500ft.

French angelfish live in and around coral reefs and rocky shores. As adults, these fish primarily feed on sponges with around 70% of their diet consisting of sponges. The comb-like teeth of adults help to grind up pieces of sponges. In contrast, juvenile French angelfish feed by consuming ectoparasites on larger fishes. As a result, juveniles spend a huge portion of their time at or near their cleaning stations.

As juvenile French angelfish grow in size, they become more generalist when it comes to species of sponge they eat, eating around twelve to fifteen sponge species, which is similar to their adult diet. This shows there is a direct relationship between the size of the juvenile and how much sponges contribute to their diet, with large juveniles eating more sponges than smaller juveniles.

In French angelfish, there are no obvious courtship displays or clear sexual dimorphism between the sexes. The species forms monogamous pairs, unlike its closest relative, the grey angelfish, which mates in polygamous groups.

Little is known about the mating patterns of P. paru, with it rarely being observed. From what has been observed, the fish, in mating pairs, would swim up the water column, with one in front and one directly behind the other.

According to the IUCN red list of endangered animal species, the French angelfish is currently listed as least concern. However, it is very possible that in the coming years this fish species moves from least concern to near threatened or even vulnerable. This is in large part due to the marine pet trade, also known as the marine ornamental trade. In Brazil alone, the French angelfish is the fifth most exported in the Brazilian fish trade. In addition, French angelfish are also caught as bycatch.

The longevity of large-bodied pomacanthids, their slow growth, their late sexual maturity, along with heavy exploitation of them from the aquarium trade, puts French angelfish and related species at risk of becoming more endangered from human impacts, as the slow rate by which these fish reproduce means they cannot quickly replenish their population.