Fairy wrasse Photo Library

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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8865839#post8865839 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bubbaOPPD
Whipfin, Cirrhilabrus filamentosus.
thank you very much. I hope you were talking to me. Happy New Year:lol: :lol: :lol:
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8872818#post8872818 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by snorvich
Well according to Kuiter they are siblings and for the most part I use Kuiter as my authority except when he disagrees with Dr. Tanaka. Kuiter shows two distinct species of Cirrhilabrus.

Cirrhilabrus lyukyuensis was first described by C. Ishikawa in 1904. It was supposed to be Cirrhilabrus ryukyuensis after the Ryukyu Islands.

Here is the original reference: Ishikawa, C. 1904 (8 Feb.) [Ref ID: 9847]
Notes on some new or little known fishes of Japan. Part I. Proc. Dept. Nat. Hist. Tokyo Imperial Mus. v. 1: 1-17, Pls. 1-7.

I suppose Prof. Ishikawa wrote it in Japanese and whoever translated it made the error. R's always come out as L's whenever I use Alta Vista's Babelfish online translation program. For example, "leaf" tank instead of "reef" tank. I think it's a problem with phonetics.

In any case, it was never intended to be named Cirrhilabrus lyukyuensis in the first place. That was always incorrect.

However, for the past 15 years or so, at least going back to Dr. Randall's 1992 publication, it has been listed as a synonym for C. cyanopleura:

Randall, J. E. 1992 [Ref ID: 20249]
A review of the Labrid fishes of the genus Cirrhilabrus from Japan, Taiwan and the Mariana Islands, with description of two new species. Micronesica v. 25 (no. 1): 99-121.

And if you search ITIS under the Taxonomic Serial No.: 613501 or the scientific name: Cirrhilabrus lyukyuensis you will find the current status is "invalid." It's a junior synonym for C. cyanopleura.

If you go to fishbase and pull up Cirrhilabrus cyanopleura and then click on Synonyms, you will find the various invalid names for C. cyanopleura. Note that they credit Prof. Ishikawa with both Cirrhilabrus lyukyuensis as originally published and also with Cirrhilabrus ryukyuensis as corrected in later editions. So lyukyuensis was never correct, it was a misspelling. The fact that it has been copied repeatedly over the past 100 years and survived that long is truly amazing. In any case, according to all current catalogues, both C. lyukyuensis and C. ryukyuensis are invalid and merely synonyms for C. cyanopleura.

:D

P.S. -- Here's another reference on wrasses published by Dr. Randall in 2000 -- Publication: Parenti, Paola, and John E. Randall. 2000. An annotated checklist of the species of the Labroid fish families Labridae and Scaridae. Ichthyological Bulletin of the J. L. B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, no. 68. 97.

Scroll down to Cirrhilabrus lyukyuensis and you will see "invalid."
 
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Well I will yield to your superior taxonomic skills; I am more of a behaviorist in any case. My bible is Kuiter and when he is wrong, I am wrong along with him.
 
After over a year of searching I finally found a Pyles Fairy Wrasse and it was listed as a Social Fairy at $35 at the local LFS.
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I am still curious as to how Pylei's are so distincly different. Most you see on here are pink. Then there are a few of us who have bright yellow ones. How are these the same fish when they look so different.
 
I only see pylie's in the yellow form when they are stressed or flashing other wrasses. The normal daily color of mine are all pink. When first captured and transferred they were either very bright yellow or slightly yellow.
 
Mine is yellow at all times, just like in my pics. I have had him for a while now, so i know hw is not stressed. He has never been pink. Thats why I am wondering about their coloration.
 
I now have a Rhomboid, I was supposed to get a pair but my LFS only got the male he said he can get 2 females for me next week hopefully they do arrive.
NewAquarium338.jpg

NewAquarium344.jpg
 
I have 4 good LFS around here one of them seem to be able offer Rhomboids every couple of months, but the one I got mine from just started looking for me last month and then I got a call saying they had a pair coming. I spent over a year looking for a Pyles but found a Rhomboid in less then a month its just weird. Now if I can only find a female Laboutei.
 
Are there limits on how many wrasses one should put together? I have a 375 display with another 325 in the system. There are more that I want but am concerned about the numbers. Right now I have:
Leapord
Velvet
Exqusite
Yellow Coris
Condi
Solar
Christmas
Blue Flasher
Dissapearing
Lobouti
Lineatus

Thanks
 
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