Yellow at both ends with a large black patch over the body. Juveniles are yellow with one black spot that grows with the fish.
To about 25 cm, though one source gives 35. The adult has a yellow head, front quarter, pectorals, pelvics and tail with the rear three-quarters of the body and the inner parts of the dorsal and anal fins black, and a purplish mouth. The juvenile is entirely yellow with a black blue-ringed eyespot high on the rear body.
The juvenile is separated from the two small Caribbean pygmy angelfish by polarity: they are blue-bodied with a yellow head, which is the reverse of this.
One to over a hundred metres, usually three to thirty-five, on rock jetties, rocky reef and rich coral, territorial and largely solitary, with juveniles associating with fire coral. It eats sponges, tunicates, zoanthids and algae.
It is heavily collected for the aquarium trade and does badly there, because of the sponge diet.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.