Stunning ocellaris

[ThRoewer]

I found a picture of this stunning Amphiprion ocellaris from the Philippines

Source: http://www.poppe-images.com/?t=17&photoid=934457

The site states it's a percula but it is clearly an ocellaris (location and the high dorsal fin).

I had a pair of Philippines ocellaris for 20 years and they looked pretty close to this one while in a carpet anemone.
I would love to have another pair of these some day.

 

[AdamNC]

Looks possible like a selective bred OC.

 

[ThRoewer]

It's an underwater photo of a wild ocellaris.
And I had some like these in the 80s.
So I don't think it's a designer clown.

It's just that these days most ocellaris come from Indonesia or Singapore and those are more bland looking.

 

[Jrsdaddy]

Beautiful clown although I would never get any wild cought fish from the Philippines due to how they collect.

 

[REEFBUILDER1]

Beautiful clown although I would never get any wild cought fish from the Philippines due to how they collect.

how do they collect them?

 

[Jrsdaddy]

how do they collect them?

Not sure if there still doing it but back in the day they use to use cyndie and other poison. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanide_fishing

 

[ThRoewer]

There was a big effort in the 90s to train the Philippine collectors to use nets and traps instead of cyanide. I think it isn't as bad as it was for ornamental fish now as it really hurt their business.

Cyanide fishing is however still widespread in Asian waters for those reef fish that end up on the dinner plates of fancy restaurants in east Asia - bon appetit!

 

[Rippinfrags]

Wow, very interesting/beautiful clownfish. Do you think their is a chance its a hybrid? To me it looks like a mix of ocellaris and percula. Regardless thanks for sharing.

 

[ThRoewer]

I don't think this is a hybrid. As I said I had some of these back in the 80s in Germany when breeding clownfish was not as widespread, let alone crossbreeding.

 

[Rippinfrags]

I don't understand why you owning a similar pair in the 80's has anything to do with this clownfish being a hybrid... Hybrids are somewhat common in the wild.

 

[addictedreefer]

This is not a hybrid. Other than the thicker black margins, everything about this clown is classic ocellaris. I currently have one that is similar (though not as dramatic) and I will try to post pics in a bit.

 

[ThRoewer]

This is not a hybrid. Other than the thicker black margins, everything about this clown is classic ocellaris. I currently have one that is similar (though not as dramatic) and I will try to post pics in a bit.

Do you have him in a gig? If not that may bring out the stronger black.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Kind of hard to do but you can count the spikes on the fish's dorsal fin. That should tell you the correct ID.

 

[ThRoewer]

Kind of hard to do but you can count the spikes on the fish's dorsal fin. That should tell you the correct ID.

I don't think that's reliable either. If I remember right ocellaris has 10 or 11 while percula has 9 or 10 - so if you count 10 your not any wiser.

The dead giveaway is the height of the dorsal fin and even more so the location where the picture was taken - Bohol. Cabilao Island. Loon. Philippines. That's in the middle of the Philippines, far far away from the natural distribution of A. percula.

Now if this was in Indonesian Papua a hybrid could be a possibility

 

[CoralsAddiction]

I am not 100% sure that's an ocellaris. I have seen many "black edge" ocellaris clowns that are darker than typical occy but this one is too dark.
As you pointed out, the geographical location can tell a lot about the correct ID but this specimen must be one of a kind.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Stunning ocellaris

Now if this was in Indonesian Papua a hybrid could be a possibility

Now that would be cool. Finally mis IDs happen all the time for clowns. For example LiveAquaria is currently selling True Percs from Singapore. If you look up diving and snorkeling videos on YouTube you will only see Ocellaris at that location, no perculas.

 

[ThRoewer]

Now that would be cool. Finally mis IDs happen all the time for clowns. For example LiveAquaria is currently selling True Percs from Singapore. If you look up diving and snorkeling videos on YouTube you will only see Ocellaris at that location, no perculas.

Well, this one was misidentified as a percula.

Getting true percula from Singapore is a possibility as Singapore is just a big market place and shipping hub. Only a small percentage of the fish and coral you get from there were actually collected in their waters.
Also tank raised clownfish and other fish come increasingly from that area without always being labeled as such.

Indonesia should have true percula - possibly very interesting color forms - on the northern coasts of their Papua and West Papua provinces (on the same island and bordering Papua New Guinea).

 

[nanoreefer1000]

Looks like a fancy occy, which were the variant that was bred to make fancy whites.

 

[ThRoewer]

Found this image today

Image description reads
"Clown anemonefish (Amphiprion percula) with anemone (Stichodactyla gigantea). Misool, Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia",
but that's an ocellaris for sure: black eye, white haze outside the black border of the soft rayed fins, higher body shape,... all fits ocellaris perfectly. Also, the area where this picture was taken is well in the ocellaris distribution range.