Behold the queen angelfish (Holacanthus ciliaris). At maturity, it can grow up to 17-18 inches in length, or the size of a royal flush with the cards spaced about an inch apart. It darts ceaselessly in and out of the reefs around St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, flashing its blue-and-yellow regalia, and showing off the crown upon its forehead, a disc of deep blue, often ringed by a fine line of turquoise. The queen angelfish is also known by several other names, including the golden angelfish, blue angelfish, and yellow angelfish.

Queen angelfish image credit: Island Roots Charters

Where To See Queen Angelfish Around St. John USVI

Locals say where queen angelfish live around St. John is on the far side of Watermelon Cay. That’s because queen angelfish prefer deeper areas, like around 20-30 plus feet of depth. These fish can be found all over the reefs throughout the North and South Atlantic Oceans, which includes the Caribbean Sea where the Virgin Islands are.

Snorkel For Queen Angelfish

What Queen Angelfish Eat — And What Eats Them

Queen angelfish mainly eat sponges, but they’ll also nibble on algae, corals, jellyfish, and tunicates. In turn, queen angelfish are eaten by larger fish like grouper, snapper, and sharks. Sometimes people eat them too, but it isn’t a fish that is sold commercially because there is ciguatera poisoning risk (similar to lionfish).

Queen angelfish eats mostly sponges, but also plankton, corals, and tunicates

Queen Angelfish For Sale, But Don’t Buy Them

Because the queen angelfish is a popular saltwater pet fish, it is often found for sale in aquarium shops. In general the price of a queen angelfish can be several hundred dollars for those juveniles just under two inches and closer to $400 for queen angelfish that are up to 4.5 inches (as of October 20, 2025). But, there is quite a bit of variation, For example Pete’s has them sale from $239.99-$539.99 and KPA for $119-$298.

Make sure not to buy a tank full of queen angelfish as they become more aggressive and territorial when more than one of them is added to the same tank. This is also not a beginner fish, since it usually requires a 200 gallon tank to accommodate the size it will one day become. Queen angelfish live around a decade in captivity (up to 15 in the wild), so buying this tropical reef fish is a serious commitment.

Queen Angelfish Lookalikes

There are other angelfish swimming around the reefs in St. John that might be confused with queen angelfish. One lookalike might be considered the unrelated french (Pomacanthus) angelfish, pictured below:

one queen angelfish lookalike is french angel fish — Queen Angelfish Lookalike: French Angelfish, Image credit: Jason Siska

The main difference is that the queen angelfish has a bright blue body with yellow highlights on the scales, and the french angelfish has a black or dark gray body with bright yellow tipped scales. They also lack the crown that the queen has. They are both found in reefs but the queen angelfish is more attracted to sea fans, whereas the french angelfish may be found more so along rocky shores.

Bermuda Blue Angelfish Lookalike

There is also the Bermuda blue angelfish, aka blue angelfish (Holacanthus bermudensis), but it lacks a crown and has a more muted blue body versus the queen’s brighter blue.

Townsend angelfish: A Bermuda Blue Angelfish + Queen Angelfish Hybrid

Since they are related they can interbreed, with the hybrid they produce called the Townsend angelfish (Holacanthus townsendi). It too is a lookalike that shares many features of the queen angelfish, but the crown may be partial or very faint, and the tail isn’t usually a bright yellow.

Juvenile Queen Angelfish

Juvenile queen angelfish look completely different from the adults and may easily be mistaken for an entirely different species. Juveniles have a dark blue body with several bright, electric-blue vertical stripes and a yellow pectoral area that extends from the snout to about halfway down the belly. They also lack the crown, until they mature.

Breeding Under a Full Moon

Queen angelfish breed under a full moon, and when the tiny eggs are released, the eggs float atop the water’s surface as transparent little spheres until the 1.5-2 mm larva-stage babies break free. Because queen angelfish cannot be bred in captivity, they can only be captured in the wild, it is best not to buy these fish. They are not currently endangered, but it doesn’t take much to disrupt the delicate ecological balance when global product demand shifts only slightly.

Ultimately the best way to experience a queen angelfish is in the wild. Join us on a St. John charter boat trip, and let’s go snorkeling!

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