Diagnosis_Genus: Holacanthus Lacepède. Teeth are small, flexible and mobile; body and tail are very compressed; small scales on the dorsal or other fins, or the height of the upper body or at least equal to its length; the opening of the mouth is small; muzzle is more or less advanced; one or more long spines and serrated points at seal; a single dorsal fin.

Diagnosis_Species: Angelichthys isabelita Jordan & Rutter. (Angel-Fish) Head 32/5; depth 13/5; eye 31/2 in head (young); snout 27/8. D. XIV, 18; A. III, 19. Body nearly oval, anterior profile very steep, much steeper than in Holacanthus ciliaris, the lips not projecting; length of head scarcely greater than its depth below top of eye; preorbital 3/4 as broad as eye, without any indication of a spine; preopercular spine strong, 4/5 length of eye, 33/4 in head, 3 or 4 very short stout spines on upper limb, the longest about 5 in spine at angle, 1 on lower limb; 1 spine on interopercle; premaxillary not very broad on top, very protractile, not projecting beyond anterior profile; interorbital greater than preorbital, equal to distance between eye and upper end of gill opening; furrow in front of eye indistinct; dorsal and anal falcate, the filamentous tips reaching much beyond caudal; pectoral obliquely rounded, equal to head, the lower rays very short; ventral spine 13/7 in head, the filamentous rays reaching origin of anal, about 1/5 longer than head; caudal rounded, longer than head, but shorter than ventral, lateral line ceasing before reaching end of dorsal, the scales below regularly arranged, those above nearly so. Color in life, yellowish brown on sides, each scale with a darker or orange spot; back shaded with violet, which grows brighter and merges into intense sky blue along the edges of spinous dorsal and on the region before the dorsal; scales of dorsal region with brown spots like those on sides; head paler; the upper lip yellowish; lower jaw reddish; spines of preopercle and edge of opercle very bright sky blue; iris yellow, marked above and below by blue; a blue bar extending from in front of first dorsal spine halfway to eye; breast sky blue; pectoral sky blue at base, then broadly golden, its edge pale; ventrals golden; posterior edge and produced lobes of dorsal and anal golden yellow, caudal broadly edged with yellow; no distinct ocellus at nape, and no dark-blue edgings to soft dorsal and anal. This species is closely related to Angelichthys ciliaris, but differs decidedly in the color markings, especially those of the nape and dorsal, in the great depth of the head, and in the nonprojecting mouth; also somewhat in general contour of body. Florida Keys and probably neighboring waters; common; reaching a large size.

Body_adults_length_max: 45 cm
Weight_adult_max: 3 kg
Body_egg_length: 0.70 mm (transparent and spherical) (Richards, 2009)
Body_larval_newly hatched_length: 2.5 mm (Richards, 2009)
Body_larval_flexion_length: 3.5 mm (Richards, 2009)
Body_juvenile_settlement_length: 20 mm (Richards, 2009)
Body_juvenile_length: < 10-20 cm (Richards, 2009)
Sequence_12sRNA: AY530835 (Bellwood et al. 2004)
Sequence_16sRNA: AY530867 (Bellwood et al. 2004)