---
title: Zebra Angelfish (Genicanthus caudovittatus)
scientific_name: Genicanthus caudovittatus
common_name: Zebra Angelfish
taxon: Angelfishes
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2024-10-28T09:36:43.799Z
updated: 2026-08-13T23:09:44.545Z
tags: Zebra Angelfish, Genicanthus caudovittatus, Angelfishes, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/angelfishes/zebra-angelfish
---

# Zebra Angelfish (*Genicanthus caudovittatus*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Angelfishes (*Pomacanthidae*)
- **Size:** up to 20 cm
- **Depth:** 5-70 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Activity:** Diurnal
- **Rarity:** Uncommon
- **Habitat:** Deeper slopes and drop-offs, in open water above the reef
- **Reproduction:** Broadcast spawner, Protogynous hermaphrodite
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- pale body; males with bold dark bars along the flank, females with none
- both sexes with dark-edged tail lobes
- hovers in midwater rather than working the reef surface
- length up to 20 cm

A small pale angelfish hovering in open water off a drop-off, which is already unusual for the family - most angelfish work the reef surface, and this genus feeds on plankton in midwater instead.

The sexes look like different species. Males carry bold dark bars along the flank; females have none at all, just a plain pale body with dark tail margins. That is rare in angelfish, and it goes with the social arrangement: one male holds a group of several females, and if he goes, the dominant female changes sex and grows the bars within weeks.

It lives deeper than most of its relatives, usually below fifteen meters and down to seventy, which is why divers see it less often than its abundance would suggest.

Twenty centimeters (8 in), fast, and hard to photograph for the same reason as any midwater fish: it never stops moving, and it keeps a consistent distance from anything with a lens.

## Also known as

- **English:** zebra angelfish, Lyre-tail Angelfish, Lyretail Angelfish
- **Arabic:** Moscht
- **French:** Poisson-ange zébré de l'Océan Indien
- **Italian:** Pesce angelo zebrato
- **German:** Rotmeer-Lyrakaiserfisch
- **Portuguese:** Peixe-anjo-zebra
- **Czech:** pomec lyroocasý
- **CA:** Peix àngel cua de lira
- **DA:** Zebrakejserfisk

## Scientific synonyms

- *Centropyge caudovittatus* (Günther, 1860)
- *Genicanthus caudibicolor* (Sauvage, 1891)
- *Holacanthus caudibicolor* Sauvage, 1891
- *Holacanthus caudovittatus* Günther, 1860
- *Holacanthus zebra* Sauvage, 1891

## Range

Indian Ocean, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Red Sea, Republic of Mauritius, South Africa

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