What's the difference between Tanaka's and Pygmy Possum Wrasses?

[small alien]

I recently acquired a possum wrasse. It was listed as triocellata on the receipt from the wholesaler.

Here's a Tanaka's from LiveAquaria

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn4/smallalien/p-74616-tanakas-possum-wrasse.jpg

And a triocellata (Pygmy) from advancedaquarist.com

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn4/smallalien/Wettriocella_thumb.jpg

What's the difference?

[teemee]

those two are exactly the same lol
But if you look at the possum wrasses that are in DD periodically, you'll see that what you posted is the Tanaka, I believe. The white line is similar looking - same shape and base colouration, but the white line pattern is quite different. I have a yellow lined one. (btw, am a big fan of your gorgeous fish, esp. the filefish!)

[small alien]

Thanks, teemee. I had a yellow lined one a year ago that jumped. :( Great fish.

The albofasciata (white line) I can tell the difference I think, but W. Tanaka vs. W. triocellata I cannot tell the difference. Maybe more white lines on the nose with the Tanaka? Anyone else?

[small alien]

Bump.

Anyone else? If only Dr. Tanaka would check in! ;)

[small alien]

One more bump. :spin2:

[Frostyeel]

As far as I can tell W. triocellata and W. tanaki are exactly the same thing. Someone decided that triocellata was not a valid name or that it actually referred to albofasciata or something weird like that. So nowadays it is officially W. tanaki and there is no such thing as a W. triocellata.

[small alien]

Hey there, Frostyeel, thanks for chiming in. Funnily enough, I was just thinking about this very issue this morning. Out of curiosity, where did you find this out? Judging by your avatar, you're a Wetmorella fan.

[Frostyeel]

I wanted to know what species of fish I owned, so I did some research. I found this website and they only list these three species of Wetmorella. (http://www.eol.org/pages/24048) The paper they cite for W. tanaki is from 2007 and the abstract is below.

The new labrid fish Wetmorella tanakai is described from three specimens, 35.7 to 42.0 mm in standard length: one collected by the authors from a coral reef in 21 m off the Indonesian island of Flores, and two obtained in the aquarium trade from southern Sulawesi. The species is also known from a photograph of a Philippine fish. It is distinguished from the two other species of Wetmorella, W. albofasciata and W. nigropinnata, by having a narrow oblique white bar behind the eye and two parallel, narrow, white bars in the middle of the body that are slightly oblique. Wetmorella albofasciata has two narrow white bars on the body, but they converge as they pass ventrally. Wetmorella nigropinnata has two white bars on the body only as juveniles and subadults, but the bars are broad and slightly oblique in the other direction. Wetmorella tanakai also has a longer head, longer snout, and narrower interorbital space.

Last summer I was on a university campus that had access to the journal and I read through the paper. It basically said that they thought that all previously used Wetmorella species names were extra names for either albofasciata or nigropinnata, and so they renamed what hobbyists had been calling triocellata. I don't know much about taxonomy and the process of naming species so I'm not really sure how these guys managed to get credit for "discovering" a species that hobbyists had already realized was a separate species and had been keeping.

[LemonLemon]

both are same fishes.

triocellata was the old scientific name. it has since been renamed as Wetmorella tanakai. Named after Dr. tanaka.

I have the PDF document on the documentation and naming of this species somewhere in my home desktop. but as of now, the name is W. tanakai.

there's only 3 species of Wetmorella. W. tanakai, albofasciata and nigropinnata.