Okay... This is the craziest angel ever! Now what is it?

[myerst2]

Check this stunner out!!! I am thinking it may be a varient from St Paul's Rocks, but I have no clue. Either way this fish is amazing. How does one explain why this fish has these colors??!!! Darwin where are you when I need you?? T
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg22/myerst22/Picture1-3.png

[JamesJR]

I almost want to say it is some hybrid of H. Cliaris and H. bermudensis, i.e. a townshend angel. I have never seen one like that before though.

[extreme5450]

queen angel

[tcmfish]

You had the right answer from the bat. Queen from St. Paul.

[yukonblizzard]

Now thats the coolest angel Ive ever seen!!

[Recty]

It's neat looking, very queen angel looking for sure.

I wonder why it doesnt have long streamers like most queen angels?

[tcmfish]

Because that is how the queens at St. Paul are, short streamers.

[Blinding Reef]

That is one sure beauty. Anyone know how big they get to be and if they are collected for the trade?

[tcmfish]

I believe they grow to the size of any normal queen (which is very large if you have ever seen them in the wild) and if they are collected (which is rare, very rare) they usually go to japan. They come in shades of blue, white, gold, and different combos of these colors. Sometimes they are called koi angels because the whtie ones can have splotches of orange or dark colors giving them a koi appearance.

[yukonblizzard]

Why are they collected so rarely? Are all the Queens by St. Paul like this one, or are these morphs just more comon there than other places?

[tcmfish]

Because it is what it is... St. Paul ROCKS... a few rocks in the middle of the ocean and 800 km from South America.

[copps]

While there are aberrants of queens found all over, the dead giveaway that this is a St. Paul's specimen is the short dorsal and anal fins... St. Paul's Rock's is now isolated from genetic input from the Brazilian mainland, so the amazing color variations you see are a result of inbreeding...

Collection is protected there though... and for good reason... it is just four acres... very small, but queens are very common there...

The yellow morph is the most common by far... followed by blue and morphs like the one above... very rare are the all white and true koi morphs like the specimen below...

http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx114/johnjcoppolino/koi_queen.jpg

Copps

[jmaneyapanda]

It looks like a hybrid of a pyramid butterfly and queen angel to me!! ;)

[LukFox]

WOW... Copps, if you have pictures of the other variants, I'd love to see those too. :eek2:

[Blinding Reef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15695818#post15695818 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tcmfish
I believe they grow to the size of any normal queen (which is very large if you have ever seen them in the wild) and if they are collected (which is rare, very rare) they usually go to japan. They come in shades of blue, white, gold, and different combos of these colors. Sometimes they are called koi angels because the whtie ones can have splotches of orange or dark colors giving them a koi appearance.

Thanks for the info..had never seen a Queen that spectacular..

[LisaD]

Scott Michael's book Angelfishes and Butterflyfishes has some great pictures of angel variants.

[Sheol]

One BEAUTIFUL Queen there! I'd almost sell my house for that, if I had a large tank!
Pure Queen Myers, the ocellus on the head is the best clue, Townsend's don't have that. I've seen plenty of all three ( Blue, Queen & the hybrids) while diving in the keys & other places..
BTW, first Saltwater Angel my dad kept was a Queen way back in the 60s..

Matthew

[copps]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15696411#post15696411 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LukFox
WOW... Copps, if you have pictures of the other variants, I'd love to see those too. :eek2:

The queens of St. Paul's Rocks are well documented... let's ask our buddy Luiz Rocha to chime in... he has his own images he can share!

I'll post tomorrow an incredible image from a Japanese calendar I have... it's one of the most striking Pomacanthid specimens I've ever seen... a koi queen NOT from St. Paul's with long dorsal and anal filaments... absolutely stunning...

Copps

[Luiz Rocha]

I've been there and saw many of those up close, I even (dare I say) killed a few for scientific purposes. The colors vary a lot, no two individuals look the same, everything from "normal" looking to solid blue to the koy-like photo that Copps posted.

Last time they were in the market, they were sold for US$8,900!

[Luiz Rocha]

Forgot to say, the only thing fishes from the St. Paul's population have in common (and the easy way to tell if they are from St. Paul's) is that they have short dorsal/anal fin filaments, much shorter than the normal Caribbean and Brazilian ones.

[Cantonesefish]

Luiz, did you see any Chaetodon obliquus while you were at St. Paul's rocks?

[Luiz Rocha]

Yes, saw 2 C. obliquus and collected both, at 55m depth. That was back in 1997, and those were the first specimens collected after the species description. They are not common, and only found below 50m. I am not aware of them being ever collected for aquarium, probably because of depth range.

[Cantonesefish]

Wow, I think the obliquus is a stunning fish! My dream is a St. Paul's rocks biotope tank.

Next time, you could collect 1 or 2 for me, eh?? :)))

[copps]

Go woth Prognathodes dichrous... shallower water and just as cool! :)

Anyway, here's that non SPR koi queen that graced the cover of the Blue Harbor calendar last year... find me a cooler morph of queen outside of SPR I dare you! :) Wow what a fish!!!!!!!!

http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx114/johnjcoppolino/koi_queen_non_SPR.jpg

Copps

[HomeSlizzice]

WOW that fish is Beautiful copps!

[tcmfish]

Do you know where that pic was taken?