Karen Calder, Semicircle Angelfish or Blue Angel (January Theme: Blue)

When human parents bring a child into the world, they watch their offspring eagerly for facial features and other physical characteristics that are similar to their own. Mums and dads experience a certain pride whenever someone acknowledges that, “She has her mother’s eyes” or “He has his father’s smile.” But in the world of reef fishes, it’s not always helpful for youngsters to be a “chip off the old block” appearance-wise. In fact, it can sometimes be extremely beneficial for juveniles to look nothing like their parents. Many coral reef fishes view similarly colored, shaped, or patterned fishes as direct competition for food, territory, and reproductive opportunities. Thus, looking nothing like mum or dad increases the odds that juvenile angelfishes will be tolerated within the confines of an adult’s range without raising anyone’s hackles. So the Blue Angelfish is so named due to one of the juvenile’s semicircle shaped white stripes, the one that is near the back of the tail fin. The other stripes are curved a little, but the last one has a sort of “C” shape or semicircle.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.