What's the low-down.....

[BallAquatics]

On the origin of the name Angelfish?  With all you Angel nuts on-board, surely someone knows some aquatic history about these fish???

Dennis

[Mugwump]

This is pretty much how I heard it years ago....

The so called Angelfishes are cichlids belonging to the genus Pterophyllum in the family Cichlidae. They are often referred to simply as ?Angels?. Wild Ptherophyllum cichlids live in slowly moving water in the Amazon and Guyana River in South America, and in smaller rivers and streams connected to these rivers. These waters are often filled with algae and compactly grown plants, and the Angelfish has developed a body ideal for venturing through such environments without getting entangled. The body of an Angelfish is flat and rounded like a disc, and laterally compressed. When the Angelfish swims, it keeps its body upright. The dorsal, pectoral and ventral fins are long and the tail of the fish is broadly splayed. You can see dark vertical bands alternated with lighter areas on the body and fins of an Angelfish. This colouration enhances the tall look of the Angelfish.

Zeus scalaris was the first Angelfish described by science. A man named Liechtenstein collected the fish in Brazil in 1823, and it was later sent to the Berlin Museum. In 1840, Heckel found one other Angelfish and named it Pterophyllum scalaris. Ptherophyllum means ?having fins like leaves?. Today, the Angelfish is named Ptherophyllum scalare, but this name wasn?t coined until the beginning of the 1900s. The dorsal fins of the Angelfish look a bit like a stairway, hence the name scalare.

(for more)
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/cichlid/angelfish2.php

[PaulineMi]

.......And supposedly because their fins are shaped like angel wings.