St. Paul's Rock Angels

Jordani

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Are any color morphs of queen angels being collected at St. Paul's Rock? How much do they usually go for?



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There has only been 7 collected and thy where collected illegally
Thy where sold for $20000 per fish
I heard of that 7 one is still alive but almost completely changed back to a normal queen
 
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"I heard of that 7 one is still alive but almost completely changed back to a normal queen "

But I thought that these fish were colored the way they are due to a limited gene pool (they are located far from any other population of Queens). Wouldn't that mean that these fish are colored the way they are due to heredity and not environmental factors?

~Michael
 
Before this report of a specimen changing back to normal after some time in captivity our best guess was that it was some sort of genetic disorder. But there was no real empirical evidence supporting it.

To answer the other question, it is illegal to collect them, so if any shows up in the trade, they would have been collected illegally. I doubt more will show up, as now there is a permanent presence in the island and people to look for unexpected boats.
 
In this case, what is found at St. Paul's Rocks that is causing this? I guess we will never know, just as we do not know with other abberations?

~Michael
 
In this case, what is found at St. Paul's Rocks that is causing this? I guess we will never know, just as we do not know with other abberations?

~Michael

We will know eventually, I have some friends that have permits to collect fin samples and release them back in the wild... But it can always be a combination of both genetic and environmental factors.
 
We will know eventually, I have some friends that have permits to collect fin samples and release them back in the wild... But it can always be a combination of both genetic and environmental factors.

I agree that it's a combination of factors between genetic and environmental... as many of you know I've had many of these mutant type aberrant fish morph back in captivity... I believe there is a genetic predisposition in addition to environmental factors... perhaps diet related... and by bringing these fish into captivity and providing them with a varied diet the color will come back... as Luiz mentioned... DNA analysis will hopefully give the answers... he has enough fin clippings from me of my mutant fish to keep him busy for a while... :)

One note on St. Paul's Rocks... this is not the Hawaii of the Atlantic... these are literally a pile of rocks... just four ACRES in size... and while the population density of queens is very high there, many of the color morphs like the white and koi queens are in the low single digit percentages compared to the population as a whole, and so the removal of a single specimen could potentially affect the population... this is a fish that should be protected from all but scientists...

Copps
 

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