A small dark angelfish that reads as black from a distance and turns out, in good light, to be deep brown with blue-edged fins and faint bars. Up to 14 cm (5.5 in), always within a body length of a hole.
The spine at the corner of the gill cover is what makes it an angelfish rather than a butterflyfish - the same feature the whole family is named for, and the reason a hand reaching into a hole after one comes out cut.
Socially it runs a harem. A male holds a territory containing several females and visits each in turn; if he disappears, the dominant female changes sex within days and takes over. So a group's structure is a queue, and the fish at the front of it changes body chemistry rather than moving house.
Spawning happens at dusk. The pair rises a meter or two off the bottom, releases eggs and sperm into open water, and drops back into the reef immediately - a thirty-second event repeated most evenings through the season, which is why an evening dive on rubble is worth doing slowly.
The genus. Centropyge Kaup 1860 - kentron (thorn or spine) + pyge (rump or rear). ETYFish
The species. Centropyge multispinis (Playfair 1867) - multi- (many) + spinis (spine). ETYFish
- small dark brown fish with faint darker bars, looking black in shade
- blue edges to the dorsal, anal and tail fins, visible in good light
- sharp spine on the lower corner of the gill cover, as in all angelfishes
- length up to 14 cm
Why it's threatened
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
