Queen Angel - Colour Variation by Geographic Location?

[mattsilvester]

You good folks in the states seem to correlate the different colour morphs of the queen angel based on where they are from.... i.e. "A florida Keys" or a "Brazilian" queen. Could someone in the know educate me a little please

For example, which is this one?:

There seems to me that there are three distinct colour variations:
Those which are largely yellow (I am talking H. ciliaris, not the "blue" bermudensis - which ironically is pretty much a solid yellow)
Those which have a strong green hue, and thus could be determined as "green" queens.....
And those with a strong blue hue, such as the one above.

I would especially like either one of the latter two..... and I can track down where the specimen is sourced from fairly accurately.... but I want a juvanile, which means that I am going to just have to wait and see if it turns out the way I suspect..... but sourcing one from the "correct" location is certainly going to increase those odds greatly.

Any thoughts / input / pointers?

Cheers guys,

Matt

PS. It should be noted, I am thinkng about this..... its not a 100% go ahead..... yet

 

[OnoIgotICH]

I have no clue what you just asked..

But my friend down in the keys says queen angels are all around there.

I think they are mostly in the carribean

I think that picture is also a blue angel?

 

[mattsilvester]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12229746#post12229746 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by OnoIgotICH
I have no clue what you just asked..

But my friend down in the keys says queen angels are all around there.

I think they are mostly in the carribean

I think that picture is also a blue angel?

No, its definitely a queen (ciliaris)..... that much do I know. Its a young adult, the crown is in the early stages of development, but none the less its plain to see..... blue's don't get that crown.

cheers,
Matt

 

[DamnPepShrimp]

Or it could be a townsend, a cross between the blue and the queen. From what I've noticed, blues look more green to me, queens more yellow, and townsends are mixed. I don't know if there is a different from from where they are collected. I'd like to say there isn't since they are spread out as much as say your emperor could be. Btw, I had a juvi 4.5" emp and a 3.5" queen in my old 125g FO and they were the best of buds, the emperor hated my bigger 6" grey angel though.

 

[sharkbyte1023]

They do seem to be different colored when first collected but change once in captivity as they mature and thier diet changes.I dive and collect them locally and have got bright blue to more orange. It has alot to do with the type of foods available to them where i get them. It is not a townsend...like you said it is a juvie queen. A difference of a half of mile and i will get different colors. Hope that helps a little.

 

[sharkbyte1023]

Hey Matt...This is a pick of my queen now and she was dark blue when i collected her. The pic still doesn't do her justice but the blue is not as pronounced now.

 

[mattsilvester]

sharkbyte1023 - love the calrion!
Taking that info on board, I suppose I what I was hoping was to get a fish with a propensity toward blue or green.... hopefully with the feeding of colour enhancing foods in addition to a general strong varied diet teh colours would then lean toward my preferences...... if they don't, then I'll still be happy..... just I would be "happier" if it went my way

Damnpepshrimp - I have some experience mixing angels, have researched it alot, and am beginning to understand the mechanics of speceis behaviour. Hence, trying a juv queen, about 3" may seen like a lamb to the slaughter, but the emporer is more of a "he who defies me shall feel my wrath" type mentality than a school yard bully mentality "I'm bigger, and I will beacuse I can"....... to be honest I will be more ocncerned about my purple and powder blue tang harassing a new queen. But she will be less than half te size of the emperor, and hence will pose no threat to him, and will be very unlikely to mount a challenge.

I do have one more thought up my sleeve..... all will come to teh fore in due course

Many thanks,

Matt

 

[Toddrtrex]

Matt, you are right. I know in one of my books ( at home, and I am at work ), they discussed, with pictures, the different color morphs and locations. I will try to find it after work.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Doing some looking at google, and there are a couple of links,


http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cach...phs&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&client=firefox-a


And there was an article in TFH magazine about the color morph at St. Paul's rock near Brazil. Was the Jan 2003 issue.

Oops, that link doesn't look like it works, sorry.

But, I did find this

http://www.artesub.com/gallery/3617476_wtJKh#266812423

and

http://www.artesub.com/gallery/3617476_wtJKh#266794017

 

[rachenbrazil]

Here in Brazil there are 3 variants of Queen Angel registered .
Common ones , occurs from Rio to Bahia , so called yellow form, with more intense yellow color .
In Ceara there is one form called blue form, with more intense blue color over head ,sometimes covering the gills area . Juveniles are more greener and adults have some solid blue areas in head .
Third form is Saint Paul rocks . It is is Brazil boundaries but very inacessible area , where Koi form lives . Shades of white, black and orange are part of these Queen color. Common yellow form also occur in there as well , but it is a very isolated population (one single rock formation without any close formation or population in 150 miles distance , similar to accencion island formation) .

Will find and post some pic for you later.

Fish exporters do send to US and Europe , blue form as Ceara blue queen and command higher price . For each one blue , there are 10 yellows in capture areas, so higher price is logical. Blue color is not uniform, some are close to a blue face , others just have a more blue margin.

Reinaldo