Halfmoon Angelfish

Pomacanthus maculosus has a deep and compressed body with a small mouth that is equipped with small bristle-like teeth. They have an obvious spine at the angle of the preoperculum. The adults have filaments extending back from the soft-rayed parts of the dorsal and anal fins, reaching past the caudal fin. The background colour of adults is brownish blue with each scale having a blue margin creating the impression that it is predominantly blue. There is an uneven, yellow bar close to the centre of the flanks with dark blue, vertically elongated spots towards the head. The caudal fin has wavy, blue lines on a pale yellow background. The juveniles are mainly black marked with many, arced, vertical blue lines and three broader white lines. Only the rear third of the caudal fin is yellow. The dorsal fin has 12–13 spines and 21 soft rays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 19–20 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of 50 cm (20 in).

Pomacanthus maculosus is found in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. It has been recorded on distinct but uncommon occasions since 2008 in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It has also been recorded off Florida and Brazil, regarded as an instance of deliberate releases from an aquarium.