---
title: Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator)
scientific_name: Pomacanthus imperator
common_name: Emperor Angelfish
taxon: Angelfishes
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2023-12-18T22:34:25.914Z
updated: 2026-08-13T14:47:41.795Z
tags: Emperor Angelfish, Pomacanthus imperator, Angelfishes, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/angelfishes/emperor-angelfish
---

# Emperor Angelfish (*Pomacanthus imperator*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Angelfishes (*Pomacanthidae*)
- **Size:** up to 40 cm
- **Depth:** 1-70 m
- **Diet:** Omnivore
- **Activity:** Diurnal
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Coral-rich reef with caves and overhangs, on the slope
- **Reproduction:** Broadcast spawner, Protogynous hermaphrodite
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- adults ruled with 25 or more diagonal yellow and blue lines, black mask through the eye
- juveniles deep blue with white concentric rings and semicircles - a different fish entirely
- yellow tail in adults, black-edged gill spine at the cheek
- length up to 40 cm

An adult is ruled with diagonal yellow and blue lines from head to tail and wears a black mask across the eye. A juvenile is deep blue with white concentric rings and semicircles, and looks so unlike the adult that the two were described as separate species in the nineteenth century. The change takes about two years and passes through a stage that looks like neither.

The rings probably keep the young alive. A juvenile angelfish lives in a small cave in shallow rubble and is treated as a non-competitor by adults, which are otherwise strongly territorial; the pattern seems to work as a badge that says small, harmless and not worth chasing.

Adults are noisy. Angelfishes drum by vibrating muscles against the swim bladder, and this species produces a low thump audible to a diver several meters away, used in disputes and when startled.

Diet is sponges and tunicates, which are chemically defended and largely unavailable to other fish - the reason the family can afford a slow, conspicuous life in the open. Pairs hold a territory and spawn at dusk, rising into the water column together.

## Also known as

- **English:** emperor angelfish, Emperor Angel-fish, Imperial Angelfish
- **Arabic:** سمك الملاك الامبراطوري, Anfouz Imbrator, Moscht
- **Hebrew:** קיסר הדור
- **French:** Ange de mer impérial, Poisson ange impérial, Holacanthe empereur
- **Italian:** Pesce angelo imperatore
- **German:** Imperator-Kaiserfisch, Kaiserfisch
- **Spanish:** Pez ángel emperador
- **Portuguese:** Lebre imperador, Peixe-anjo-imperador
- **Dutch:** Keizersvis
- **Swedish:** Äkta Kejsarfisk
- **Polish:** Ustniczek cesarski
- **Czech:** pomec císařský
- **Japanese:** タテジマキンチャクダイ, Tatejima-kinchakudai, Tatejimakinchakudai
- **Chinese:** 主刺盖鱼, 主刺蓋魚, 大花臉(幼魚)
- **Russian:** Императорская рыба-ангел
- **AF:** Keiserengelvis
- **CA:** Peix àngel emperador
- **DA:** Ægte Kejserfisk
- **DIV:** Kokaa
- **ET:** Imperaator-ingelkala
- **FIJ:** lati ni daveta
- **HU:** Színváltó császárhal
- **MLG:** Lafidaja Vola
- **MSA:** Taring-pelanduk jalur kuning, Ayam hutan, Ikan babi
- **TGL:** Paru-parang dagat, Baro-baro, Paro-paro
- **TH:** ปลาสินสมุทรจักรพรรดิ
- **VI:** Cá Chim Hoàng đế, Cá Bướm đế

## Scientific synonyms

- *Acanthochaetodon imperator* (Bloch, 1787)
- *Acanthochaetodon nicobariensis* (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
- *Chaetodon imperator* Bloch, 1787
- *Chaetodon nicobariensis* Bloch & Schneider, 1801
- *Holacanthus bishopi* Seale, 1901
- *Holacanthus imperator* (Bloch, 1787)
- *Holacanthus nicobariensis* (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
- *Pomacanthodes imperator* (Bloch, 1787)
- *Pomacanthodes nicobariensis* Schn., 1801
- *Pomacanthus imperatur* (Bloch, 1787)
- *Pomacanthus nicobariensis* (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

## Range

Comoros, Federal Republic of Somalia, Indian Ocean, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Red Sea, Republic of Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/angelfishes/emperor-angelfish)*
*Updated: August 13, 2026*