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NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

regal angelfish

Pygoplites diacanthus (Boddaert, 1772)

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Royal angelfish (Pygoplites diacanthus), Ras Muhammad National Park, Red Sea, Egypt. The body of the royal angelfish is moderately elongate, is very compressed and can reach a length of up to 25 centimetres (9.8 in) It's widely distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific and can be found in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean around East Africa and the Maldives, stretching to the Tuamoto Islands, New Caledonia, and Great Barrier Reef. The royal angelfish occurs at depths ranging from 0 to 80m (0 to 262 ft), in coral rich areas of lagoons, reefs, and are also often found in the vicinity of caves. It is a

Royal angelfish (Pygoplites diacanthus), Ras Muhammad National Park, Red Sea, Egypt. The body of the royal angelfish is moderately elongate, is very compressed and can reach a length of up to 25 centimetres (9.8 in) It's widely distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific and can be found in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean around East Africa and the Maldives, stretching to the Tuamoto Islands, New Caledonia, and Great Barrier Reef. The royal angelfish occurs at depths ranging from 0 to 80m (0 to 262 ft), in coral rich areas of lagoons, reefs, and are also often found in the vicinity of caves. It is a carnivorous species that feeds on sponges and tunicates located throughout reefs and underwater caves. They are a non-migratory species that can be found solitary, in pairs, or groups. Probably the most spectacular fish I've ever seen underwater in terms of colors. we have no FPs of the whole family Pomacanthidae (marine angelfishes).

Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image source

Provider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.

Open encyclopedia reference

The royal angelfish (Pygoplites diacanthus), or regal angelfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a marine angelfish belonging to the family Pomacanthidae, and the monotypic genus Pygoplites. It is found in tropical Indo-Pacific oceans. It can grow as long as 25 cm (9.8 in).

Wikipedia contributors, Royal angelfish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:07:49.051094+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Pygoplites diacanthus (Boddaert, 1772)
Name authority
(Boddaert, 1772)
Common name
regal angelfish
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Teleostei
Order
Acanthuriformes
Family
Pomacanthidae
Genus
Pygoplites
Extinction status
Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. gigaclassActinopterygii
  8. superclassActinopteri
  9. classTeleostei
  10. orderAcanthuriformes
  11. familyPomacanthidae Jordan & Evermann, 1898
  12. genusPygoplites Fraser-Brunner, 1933
  13. speciesPygoplites diacanthus (Boddaert, 1772)

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 67 records assigned to Pomacanthidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded nameSource status
Pygoplites dux Gmelin, 1789 Gmelin, 1789synonym
Holacanthus diacanthus (Boddaert, 1772) (Boddaert, 1772)synonym
Chaetodon diacanthus Boddaert, 1772 Boddaert, 1772synonym
Pygoplites boddaerti Gmelin, 1789 Gmelin, 1789synonym

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

  1. https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=211773 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:4QPG6. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.