interesting facts regarding Flame Angelfish

[Gary Majchrzak]

The true Hawaiian flame angel is indeed a very rare sight in this industry... but many people don't know it... including many people in the industry... and there's a reason... Most all of the flame angels in the past have gone through Hawaiian wholesalers, received from both Christmas Island and the Marshall Islands in HUGE numbers... wholesalers in LA or in other parts of the US would receive them from Hawaii and place them on their stocklists... many would put something like "flame angel: origin- Hawaii"... and as flames are found in Hawaii, many people for years erroneously thought these were true Hawaiian flames...

Anyone who has dived in Hawaii knows that of the five species found in the Main Hawaiian Islands there is only one that is common... Centropyge potteri. Flames naturally have a very low population density in Hawaii... I've confirmed this with old time divers that have dived Hawaii for decades, so this has nothing to do with collection. The population density on Oahu is especially low, where alot of collection is done. More can be seen on the Kona Coast of the Big Island. Fortunately, the population densities of this very unique Centropyge (red is rare in angels) are very high at other locales...

The Hawaiian "race" of flame angels is blood red... with little to no orange or yellow throughout... and while there is no ugly flame angel, the Hawaiian ones are quite stunning! I can post pics tonight... I've owned singles through the years and for the past six months or so I've been working on a trio that has now settled in to my large frag system and are ready to be put on display. Interestingly, in a recent scientific paper the Hawaiian race was studied... this color variety is only found elsewhere at Johnston Island about 750 miles southwest of Hawaii... interestingly, the other more common color variant is also found at Johnston, but not in Hawaii. The two "races" were studied at Johnston, and it was concluded that the two different color morphs have resulted from sexual selection, and the two do not interbreed for the most part at Johnston... AMAZING!:spin3:

Oh, and John Dawe is hard core! He does ALL Hawaii fish... and is one of just three people to have attended every MACNA... we were roomies a few years back in Pittsburgh!:beer:

has anybody here seen a Flame while diving Hawaii'?

 

[Posidion]

no i have never seen a flame while diving. I believe this is due in part to the fact that water is generally used to put out flames. :wavehand:

 

[mr86mister]

Nice Gary! My question is....why do I live here in crummy CNY when I could be scuba diving in Hawaii? lol

 

[dreaminmel]

Ok... we got Larry and Curly... where's Mo?

 

[shawna1972]

Never see an all red one

 

[superkat]

been diving twice in Hawaii...once off of Oahu (that sucked) and then off north shore of the big island....where we saw plenty.

Also, off the eastern shore of the big island, near Kalapana, if you snorkel (snorkel, yes) off of the black sand beach where the giant sea turtles are (gotta dig up that picture) there are some there as well...gotta dive down a bit...and watch out for aggressive turtles...but they are so beautiful...

 

[DEEP BLUE SIX]

I seen pics of different ones in books and online.

The really red one (True Hawaiian)is definitely rarely if ever to be found in an LFS.

I've seen ones in lfs's that have a little red or deeper orange than others.
But they are definitely not the red Hawaiian.

Out of the species of flames, it IS most Rare and harder to acquire.
usually they are not even sought after. Just because the others we see, are so easy to get in comparison and basically suffice to providing a stock of the fish to the hobby.

It sure would be nice to get a hold of a RED one though!
The color is awesome. Way less orange if much at all and the striping is thinner on some of them in comparison to the more common Indo-Pacific flame.

Points out something not often seen or thought of by most that like the fish.
GOOD post Gary. Thanks.

Red pic on the left. An example of the more common type we see, on right.

 

[Haffs09]

I kept my eyes peeled when I was diving/snorkeling in September in Maui and Kauai, but didn't have any luck. When I asked the dive masters, they all said flame angels are rare to observe.

 

[wah-zoh]

cool find.

 

[superkat]

I kept my eyes peeled when I was diving/snorkeling in September in Maui and Kauai, but didn't have any luck. When I asked the dive masters, they all said flame angels are rare to observe.

The Big Island. North Shore. Next time? do that.:celeb2: