Anthias ID

[pacislandaqua]

so this came form christmas island. I thought it was a Randalls Male, but now im not sure....

any thoughts?

aloha!

 

[LemonLemon]

it looks like a nice male randall's anthias but those are not found in the indian ocean, where christmas island is.

they're found in the pacific.

my guess is it's a male resplendent anthias, Pseudanthias pulcherrimus.

a sister species to the randall's anthias and look very similar, but the resplendent anthias are an indian ocean species.

 

[SDguy]

Someone on another forum had a similar question on this fish... the vendor that sold it said it came in as a "misc anthias" from the xmas island... Stunning fish, whatever itis. I'd love to get my hands on some.

 

[LemonLemon]

quite sure it's pulcherrimus but that ventral fin is solid yellow.

how nice! don't they usually have blue/red ventral fins?

maybe a different species or a morph.

 

[SDguy]

Even if it is a pulcherrimus or randalls, it's not like one I've ever seen!

 

[LemonLemon]

Even if it is a pulcherrimus or randalls, it's not like one I've ever seen!

i know!

it's gorgeous and looks a little different.

i've seen a few big male randalls/pulcherrimus with that magenta line in the middle of the body but this one doesn't quite fit the image.

looks special and cool!

maybe a new species.

i've never heard of any of them coming out of xmas islands before too anyway.

 

[LemonLemon]

i've been staring at it for hours and it really could be a new species derived from randalls and pulcherrimus since it bears some resemblance, but is obviously different enough.

the fins are very different.

Peter, are you gonna get them??! you should!

 

[pacislandaqua]

the last one was from me as well. both from kiribati (christmas Islands)

It doesn't look like a randalls male, but could be a morph.

could also be a new species, it was caught very deep, so who knows!