Sunday 30 May 2004

On 29th May, 2004, I caught a tiny conspicuous angelfish Chaetodontoplus conspicillatus. I was diving at Seal Rocks (3 hours north of Sydney) and was chasing a purple-yellow seaperch . The seaperch swam behind some sea urchins in a crevice. I carefully removed the sea urchins with my dive knife to reveal the seaperch and the angelfish. While I tried to catch the angelfish, the seaperch kept getting in the way. I had to catch the seaperch first and place it in a collection bag before I could get the angelfish. The angelfish was reasonably easy to catch.

The tiny angelfish in the quarantine tank a day after capture. The size of this angelfish can be gauged against the airline to the left of the fish.

The conspicuous angelfish have a fairly limited range and are found in southern Queensland, northern New South Wales and eastward through Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands and on to New Caledonia. Juveniles have been caught around Sydney in the past, although not all that often.

Another shot of the angelfish