Regal Angel color variations

[SDguy]

Since losing my gorgeous, pellet eating orange regal *cry* I've been on the hunt for another.

I found one yesterday that is a bit more lemon yellow in coloration. What is interesting is the face. It is totally yellow (no dark/black mask over the eyes, and the eyes themselves (the outer ring) are VERY yellow, not dark. Is this some sort of regional thing? Stress?

My first regal was really stressed when I first got it. I didn't think it would even make it through the night. But it still had a dark area between the eyes, and dark eyes.

My old regal:

And pics from the net similar to my new one:
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/970/19767.JPG

http://www.reefforum.net/photopost/data/501/Pygoplites_diacanhus.jpg

 

[copps]

Hey Peter, the coloration you see on the eye is detemined by the depth the fish was caught at... black pigments around the eye are similar to football players smearing black under their eye to divert the glare... Just kidding...:spin3:

This is not a regional thing... but more of a size thing... larger specimens will develop more black around the eye generally, although it varies with each specimen...

 

[SDguy]

Thanks John. This new one is quite large (bigger than my first) but I would guess definitely a female, as the gill spine is tiny.

 

[copps]

Peter, do you know the origin of your new specimen? I've seen many specimens from the Maldives hold the yellow face pretty large, but I cannot imagine it is a regional thing...

 

[SDguy]

PAF listed it as "Red Sea"...

I didn't want to freak the fish out last night with the camera, so I will try to take some pics in daylight (no flash) today when I get home from work...

 

[copps]

How ironic is it that nowadays "Red Sea regal" means an Indian Ocean regal from numerous potential locales in the Indian Ocean, none of which are in the Red Sea...

John

 

[SDguy]

How ironic is it that nowadays "Red Sea regal" means an Indian Ocean regal from numerous potential locales in the Indian Ocean, none of which are in the Red Sea...

John

Yeah, bums me out to not have a better listing

However, the last time I saw an "African" regal, it looked like this one...

 

[copps]

Peter, unfortunately the photos are blocked so I cannot see them until tonight... "African regal" nowadays means Kenya...

 

[itachi]

John , last time i saw one out of the maldives , it was an orange regal with a white belly not a yellow .. hrmm so many morphs , can't have them all lol

 

[copps]

With a white belly it had to be Pacific... or it could have been from the Maldives and perhaps just had Uronema...

 

[itachi]

With a white belly it had to be Pacific... or it could have been from the Maldives and perhaps just had Uronema...

Dunno, they listed it as melanasia ... in other words we won't tell you ... But it definitely was the orange morph.. only it had a white belly with a hint of yellow

 

[copps]

Ahh... "Melanesia" from Quality could be a few different locations, but all are Pacific... Maldives I believe would be listed as "South Asia"... couldn't you just ask Bob where it came from?

 

[itachi]

Ahh... "Melanesia" from Quality could be a few different locations, but all are Pacific... Maldives I believe would be listed as "South Asia"... couldn't you just ask Bob where it came from?

ROFL ... literally in tears ...

 

[SDguy]

Forgive the horrid pics... I really didn't want to stress the fish with a photo shoot

 

[SDguy]

couldn't you just ask Bob where it came from?

ROFL ... literally in tears ...

Tisk tisk tisk, you two!

 

[SDguy]

Oh, and I take back what I said earlier about it being female. The gill spine is not at all small... I'm not sure what I was seeing last night

 

[roktsintst]

Looks Great man!

 

[Project Reef]

Looks like a nice handsome boy! Elongated body, long gill spine. I think it probably came out of Sumatra...

 

[SDguy]

Kenya, Sumatra, Sri Lanka... all possibilities I guess.

 

[LKGRenegade22]

Man what a beautiful fish.