Fish ID: Moorish Idol look-a-like?

A

aquaful

New member
Hey Everyone! Hope someone can help me ID this fish. My supplier just got it in and has not ever seen one before. It resembles a Moorish Idol but is wildly different in coloration. Do you think it's a hybrid? A new species? A Moorish Idol with a genetic abnormality?

Thought it was very unique and nice to share. The ocean still has lots of surprises!

1613997_803410936342349_1545249660_o.jpg
 
Looks like an aberrant, xanthic moorish idol. wonder if it will keep that coloration?
also looks pretty thin. definitely needs to eat asap to ensure that it survives.
 
Almost looks like a CBB/MI hybrid (if that's even possible?) LOL

How much is he selling it for?
 
years ago i purchased this weird lionfish...it never changed back coloration but it really never ate. wonder if that moorish idol will stay that color or become darker over time.

IMG_5527.jpg
 
The post that you found on google sounds like he got the same email I did and doesn't know any more about it than anyone else. Just a bunch of speculation.

It's sort of awkward to talk about price since I can purchase from the supplier through a wholesale account. The wholesale price is $1K, if it retails it will most likely be for much much much much more than that. I.E if LA buys it expect to see it for $2500 lol. I think this is good and bad in the sense that whoever purchases it better know what they're doing and better have the funds to keep the fish alive.

I'm tempted to buy it and donate it to the New England Aquarium. They have been doing a good job of setting up a lot of new unique species tanks though I suspect this guy would go in the larger community reef tank.
 
That is a very cute lionfish! It almost looks albino.

If I were to speculate at the long-term color of the aberrant MI, if we can even call it a MI, I would say that it's going to retain most of its rust orange color and that the primary change in coloration will be in the black bands. They may either become more pronounced or more subdued. It reminds me of how the singular bannerfish changes.
 
It is a hybrid MI but I can almost assure anyone who would purchase it that the colors would fade away just like all other pieball tangs and tricolors do. They only have these colorations because of whatever their diet was in the wild. Without that specific diet the colors will return to normal.
 
Ok call it what you will abberant.... I said hybrid... Whatever point I was making is it will lose the colors it has so if the fish is really 1K that sounds like someone overpaid about 940$ for a MI
 
Dmorty217 said:
Ok call it what you will abberant.... I said hybrid... Whatever point I was making is it will lose the colors it has so if the fish is really 1K that sounds like someone overpaid about 940$ for a MI
Click to expand...

No need to get upset... but there is a pretty big difference between aberrant and hybrid. If it was a hybrid, that would mean the MI would have to be crossed with another fish. Since its in a genus (Zanclus) all by itself, it can't, to my knowledge, hybridize with anything. This is unlike some tangs that can hybridize such as Zebrasoma flavescens x Zebrasoma scopas. :beer:
 
mbingha said:
No need to get upset... but there is a pretty big difference between aberrant and hybrid. If it was a hybrid, that would mean the MI would have to be crossed with another fish. Since its in a genus (Zanclus) all by itself, it can't, to my knowledge, hybridize with anything. This is unlike some tangs that can hybridize such as Zebrasoma flavescens x Zebrasoma scopas. :beer:
Click to expand...

And to make it all the more confusing, yellow scopas tangs are often labelled as yellow/scopas hybrids when they are a scopas variant. (Right?)

The idol in this instance is not a hybrid, but looks like a xanthic morph. These colors will probably fade back to normal within a few months in captivity, as with most other color morphs (ie "black" yellow longnose bf, xanthic regal angel, tricolor scopas, "black" hippo tangs, etc).
 
Rea17 said:
And to make it all the more confusing, yellow scopas tangs are often labelled as yellow/scopas hybrids when they are a scopas variant. (Right?)

The idol in this instance is not a hybrid, but looks like a xanthic morph. These colors will probably fade back to normal within a few months in captivity, as with most other color morphs (ie "black" yellow longnose bf, xanthic regal angel, tricolor scopas, "black" hippo tangs, etc).
Click to expand...


ya definitely not worth 1K$. feel bad for who purchased it once it turns back to normal coloration. my friend in hawaii caught me one of the black longnose butterflies and within a matter of weeks it was back to normal coloration :(
 
gobolts23 said:
ya definitely not worth 1K$. feel bad for who purchased it once it turns back to normal coloration. my friend in hawaii caught me one of the black longnose butterflies and within a matter of weeks it was back to normal coloration :(
Click to expand...
I would be interested in hearing reports if this guy turns back to normal...
 
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