280 NATURAL HISTORY OP AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



94. THE ANGEL-FISH FAMILY— CH^TODONTID^. 



This family contains numerous species of fully-formed, beautifully-tinted fishes, usually of 

 small size, which abound in all tropical seas, especially among the coral reefs. Their teeth are 

 very small and feeble, and they feed upon minute invertebrates. To this group belong the beau- 

 tiful " four-eyed fish " of the West Indies ; also the Angel-fish, Holacanthus ciliaris, a lovely species, 

 familiar to the residents of New York, specimens having been brought from the Bermudas at vari- 

 ous times during the past thirty years for exhibition in the aquaria of that city. This species is 

 found also along the Florida coast, and as far north as Charleston, South Carolina. It is con- 

 sidered the most delicious food-fish of the Bermudas. 



Stearns writes: "The 'White Angel-fish,' the 'Yellow Angel-fish,' and the 'Black Angel- 

 fish' are reported as common about the Florida reefs, the two first as being abundant and the last 

 as rare. I did not secure a specimen of either." 



The Black Angel-fish is probably the species known under this name in the Bermudas, Holor 

 canthus tricolor. 



