252 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Color in life: Caudal, pectoral, and ventral fins, and the forward parts in front of a line from 
fourth dorsal spine to near base of pectoral, thence to third anal spine, bright golden-yellow; rest of 
trunk and most of dorsal and anal deep black; reddish-orange on preopercular spine, edge of opercle, 
>ipd horizontal margins of dorsal and anal, the vertical margins and produced rays of which are yellow; 
orange punctulations on caudal; lips pale-blue, becoming black in spirits; breast dusky; iris yellow, 
blue above and below. 
The rock beauty is one of the most gorgeously colored of tropical fishes, the rich orange of the 
head, tail, and anterior third of trunk, and the soft, satiny-black of the rest of the body, together 
with the narrow red and orange borders of dorsal and anal fins, give the fish a most striking appearance. 
The line of demarcation between the colors is everywhere abrupt and clean cut, and the contrast is 
as great as it could well be. 
This interesting fish is not uncommon in the West Indies, ranging south to Bahia and north to 
the Bermudas. It is known from Cuba, Bermuda, Jamaica, Porto Rico, St. Thomas, Guadaloupe, 
Trinidad, and Bahia, but has not been recorded from southern Florida or the Bahamas. Specimens 
were obtained by us at Arroyo and Isabel Segunda, but it was not seen elsewhere. This species 
reaches a length of a foot or more, and is regarded as a good food-fish. It frequents water of moderate 
depths about the coral reefs and is usually. taken in the fish traps or baskets. 
Catalineta , Parra, Descr. Dif. Piez., Hist. Nat. Cuba, 12 pi., VII, fig. 2, 1787, Cuba. 
Chxtndon tricolor Bloch, Icbth., pi. 426, 1795, Cuba. 
Holaeanthus tricolor, Jordan & Evermann, 1. c., 1684, 1898. 
Genus 116. ANGELICHTHYS Jordan & Evermann. Isabelitas. 
This genus is separated from Holaeanthus by the presence on the ascending limb of the preopercle 
of several stout graduated spines in addition to the large grooved spine at the angle. The soft dorsal 
and anal are much falcate and the preorbital is without spine; interopercle armed with 1 to 4 spines; 
scales rather large; body ovate, rather deep, and compressed. The known species are among the 
largest of the chsetodonts and perhaps the most gaily colored of all. Species all American. 
a. Spines on ascending limb of preopercle moderate, longest less than one-fourth length of large .spine at angle. 
b. Nape with a blue ocellus; soft dorsal and anal edged with dark-blue; depth 1.87 in length in adult ciliaris, 210 
bb. Nape without distinct ocellus; no dark 7 blue edgings to soft dorsal and anal; body deep, the depth 1.6 in length in 
adult isabelita 
210. Angelichthys ciliaris (Linnaeus). “Mariposa”; Blue Angel-fish; Isabelita. 
(Plate 37.) 
Head 3.S; depth 1.8; eye 4.7; snout 2.6; interorbital 3; preorbital 3.8; D. xiv, 21; A. in, 21; 
pectoral 1.2; ventral 1; caudal 1.1; scales 47. Body oblong and compressed; head small, obtusely 
pointed; scales on body of various sizes, a large series of regularly imbricated ones, with many much 
smaller ones between, all strongly ctenoid, those of head much smaller than the large scales of body; 
preopercle with a very strong grooved spine at angle, upper limb with shorter strong spines, irregular 
in length; 2 spines on lower limb, about 3 on interopercle and 3 on lower margin of opercle, these 
sometimes reduced in number or-entirely absent; preorbital ending in 3 diverging spines; spines of 
head subject to variation in number and size with age of specimen; middle rays of soft dorsal and anal 
much produced, reaching beyond caudal, the fins densely scaled. 
Color in life: Ground-color blue, margins of scales yellowish; sides of head pale-vellow; branchi- 
ostegal membranes, pectoral, ventral, and caudal fins lemon-yellow; dorsal and anal reddish-orange, 
with bright-blue border, bases of soft portions shaded with blue of body, their last rays with a dark 
blotch, their produced tips yellow; pectoral with an olive base bordered anteriorly by a pale-blue 
stripe, posteriorly by a semicircular black line; nape with a large round deep-blue spot ocellated with 
pale-blue and containing pale-blue specks; iris yellow, with a blue upper and lower edge; preorbital 
spines pale-yellow, other spines of head blue. All the bright colors fade in spirits, leaving aground- 
color of olive, the lighter edges of scales standing out prominently; ocellus persistent. 
The variation in the color of this species is considerable. While the blue ground-color is usually 
sufficiently strong to justify the name “blue angel-fish,” the yellow margins of the scales are some- 
times so broad as to give the fish a decidedly yellow appearance, which accounts for the name 
“yellow angel-fish,” by which the species is known at Key West. 
