Genicanthus caudovittatus shows sexual dichromatism, the males and females have differing colouration. The males are whitish-blue marked with vertical dark brown barring and a black band running along the middle of the dorsal fin base. The females are pale pinkish grey with a black band over the eye and a black band on the upper and lower margins of the caudal fin. Both sexes have a markedly forked caudal fin.[4] The dorsal fin contains 15 spines and 15–17 soft rays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 17–19 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of 20 centimetres (7.9 in).[2]
Genicanthus caudovittatus is distributed in western Indian Ocean where it occurs along the eastern coast of Africa from the Red Sea in the north to KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, east to Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, and Réunion. It has also been recorded from Weh Island off northwestern Sumatra.[1]
Genicanthus caudovittatus is found at depths between 15 and 70 metres (49 and 230 ft).[1] In the Red Sea it can be found in shallower water than in the Andaman Sea.[2] It can be found on steep outer reef slopes where it lives in small groups made up of a male and a few females. It feeds on plankton.[1] Juveniles live at greater depth than the adults.[5]
Genicanthus caudovittatus was first formally described in 1860 as Holocanthus caudovittatus by the German-born British ichthyologist and herpetologist Albert Günther (1830–1914) with the type locality given as Mauritius.[6] The specific name is a compound of caudus meaning “tail” and vittatus meaning “banded”, referring to the black markings on the tail.[7]
^Eran Brokovich; Shai Enbinder; Salit Kark & Nadav Shashar (2012). "A deep nursery for juveniles of the zebra angelfish Genicanthus caudovittatus". Environmental Biology of Fishes. 80 (1): 1–6. doi:10.1007/s10641-006-9160-y.
