The scribbled Watanabe angelfish, collected by RVS Fishworld in the Northern Philippines, has made its way to the U.S. Last week while in the Los Angeles area for the last ReefAPalooza of the year, we had the chance to swing by a check out this very special angelfish.
Our first look at this fish was a clear photograph of this fish showing a clearly confused arrangement of its lateral stripes. While these are normally uniform, parallel black and white, in this unusual specimen the stripes are misbarred, branching and otherwise very different from the usual appearance of a Genicanthus watanabei.
Interestingly, the stripes have become much bolder, with the white and black becoming much more pronounced in just a few short weeks. We have to wonder if this fish was in the tail-end of its transition from female to male coloration.
Whatever the case, we think you’ll agree that this is one very unusual looking Watanabe angelfish. This reef safe species is destined to be the highlight of its future reef tank home. It’ll be very interesting to see how his stripes develop and change over time, if they do at all.
The scribbled Watanabe angelfish turned out to be incredibly photogenic, and we took our production up a notch to respectfully document this fish in a video as well. For now we’re just thrilled that this guy will be living in America and we hope to follow up with its progress and continue to document its development throughout his aquarium life.
