Fish Identification Photos: Cortez Angelfish, Pomacanthus zonipectus: The adult Cortez Angelfish has a gray head and a series of vertical stripes: broad yellow, black, yellow, black, broad grey and black. The Cortez Angelfish's caudal fin is pale. In stark contrast juvenile Cortez Angelfish are black in color with a series of six C-shaped yellow bars on the head, body, and tail that are separated by narrow blue bars.

These markings make the Cortez Angelfish a very easy species to identify with the possible exceptions being the Clarion Anglefish, Holacanthus clarionensis (only found at the Revillagigedo Islands and Cabo Pulmo and is a bright yellow orange with is blue and brown aft of the gill covers with yellow pelvic fins; the juveniles are quite similar to the King Angelfish with the exception that the blue markings are black); and the King Angelfish, Holocanthus passer (dark blue gray body with one white band behind the gill cover and yellow caudal and pectoral fins).

The Cortez Angelfish is a member of the family Pomacanthidae or Angelfish Family known in Mexico as Peces Angel. The anglefish are reef fishes that are among the most colorful tropical reef fishes in the world. They are characterized by a strong conspicuous stout spine originating on the lower edge of the check. Young angelfish undergo radical coloration changes as they mature. They are grazers and pickers that consume small organisms including slow-moving algae, coral polyps, hydroids, sponges, tunicates and worms. Their mode of feeding predisposes them to be cleaners, which pick parasites from other fishes. Globally, 74 species of Angelfish have been identified of which only 3 live in the Sea of Cortez.

The Cortez Anglefish is fairly abundant in certain parts of the Sea of Cortez, and it reaches 16 inches in length. The Cortez Angelfish can be found in an around rocky coral reefs at depths up to 100 feet in the water column. In Mexico, the Cortez Anglefish is found in all Mexican waters that do not go below 59 degrees in temperature including along the Pacific coast of the Baja California peninsula south of San Ignacio, throughout the Sea of Cortez, along the coast of the mainland south to Guatemala, and around all oceanic islands. The Cortez Anglefish is of most interest to scuba divers and is of virtually no interest as a sport fish.

Cortez Angelfish, Pomacanthus zonipectus: Photo courtesy Peter Langstraat.