The “Afghan Hound” of the Sea (or how a fish named a structural term)

As sea life goes, the angelfish just might be the “Afghan Hound” of tropical fish: Elegant and graceful, both fish and dog look like they are flowing through their respective environment.

It is here, however, that we pivot to the high profile that an angelfish has in its environment, and here any similarities between the two end.  From the side, there is no missing the round body with elongated triangular dorsal and anal fins that gives the fish its unique diamond-shaped profile:

terms, Pterophyllum scalare, angelfish

Portrait by annanelidova of a Pterophyllum scalare

This body shape allows the fish to move easily through plants and roots, but given the fish’s conspicuous side view, how on earth, one might ask, does the fish pull it off?

Turn around.

Not you, the fish.

Once the fish turns and aims itself “head on,” that profile changes!

terms, Pterophyllum scalare, angelfish

Photo by ©Pisotckii | Dreamstime.

As in most hobbies, sports, or passions, there are terms unique to that interest…….slang, if you will. After years of reading and researching, we suspect the dog fancy takes a back seat to few. Though the term may now be viewed as old fashioned, it is no less descriptive when describing a dog whose side view is excellent – stunning, even – but when viewed from the front, the dog is “knifey, or so narrow as to look like a cardboard cut-out dog turned to face us———–and it’s not a breed that is supposed to be. The word is “angelfish,” and it appears in several dog books including the wonderful Encyclopedia of K-9 Terminology by by Edward M. Gilbert Jr, and Patricia Gilbert, and illustrated by “our own” Dan Sayers, show judge, Irish Water Spaniel and Rhodesian Ridgeback breeder, and Editor-In-Chief of SHOWSIGHT magazine.

Image by katerina51 on Freepik

 

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