Black-velvet Angelfish

Chaetodontoplus melanosoma

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth5–112 m
Water temperature23–30 °C
Best monthsMay, August, and December
How commonRare

Photo credit: (c) Piotr Lukasik, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Chaetodontoplus melanosoma, the black-velvet angelfish, brown angelfish, or phantom angelfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a marine angelfish belonging to the family Pomacanthidae. It is found in the western Pacific Ocean.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Chaetodontoplus melanosoma”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 4 records
February: 1 records
March: 4 records
April: 6 records
May: 12 records
June: 4 records
July: 2 records
August: 8 records
September: 3 records
October: 0 records
November: 1 records
December: 9 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–112 m · Deepest record: 111.9 m

0–10 m: 2 records
10–20 m: 1 records
20–30 m: 0 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110–120 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 23–30 °C

22–24 °C: 1 records
24–26 °C: 3 records
26–28 °C: 0 records
28–30 °C: 13 records

Names and classification

English: Black-velvet Angelfish, Blackvelvet Angelfish, Black Velvet Angelfish, Brown Angelfish, Phantom Angelfish

Names in 2 more languages

Japanese: Kiheri-kinchakudai, Kiherikinchakudai, キヘリキンチャクダイ
Simplified Chinese: 黑身神仙, 黑身荷包魚

Other scientific names: Holacanthus melanosoma

Similar species

emperor butterflyfish
Chaetodontoplus mesoleucus
Blue-spotted Angelfish
Chaetodontoplus caeruleopunctatus
Coral Beauty
Centropyge bispinosa
Lemon Peel
Centropyge flavissima
Regal angelfish
Pygoplites diacanthus
Threespot angelfish
Apolemichthys trimaculatus

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
36 open-data records from 1910 to 2015.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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