Tomato Complex ID

[WDLV]

I've had these fish for a few years and have just sort of assumed that they are A. barberi. They were WC juviniles that came in from Fiji. I liked them because even as juviniles, they had very thin bars. I'm just looking to confirm that they are indeed A. barberi. I'm having difficulty finding a description of this fish that mentions the differentiation between it and others in the same complex.

As juviniles.

More recent.

Some clearer pics

 

[landlord]

I'm gonna guess that you have read the article in the International Journal of Icthyology describing the species.

http://www.halichoeres.org/halichoeres/Publications_files/Allen%20et%20al.%20(2008a).pdf

Perhaps you can get further documentation through correspondence with Paul Barber. His lab is now at UCLA

Just a thought. I have his email if you're interested, it's is publicly available on the UCLA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology webpage.

 

[WDLV]

Yeah, I had scanned over the article. What I walked away with was that it is very similar to some geographic variants of A. melanopus. The geographical separation of the two species being one of the main means of identification. The problem with that being that I have no idea if the fish really came from where I was told they originated. The other notable difference being the number of rays/spines in the dorsal and anal fins. Good luck with that.

 

[landlord]

The problem with that being that I have no idea if the fish really came from where I was told they originated.

Your quote says it all, becomes extremely tough given that the differences between the species are so subtle.

 

[adtravels]

I would go with barberi based on geography and colour.

 

[landlord]

But with sketchy geography color may not suffice.

 

[WDLV]

Your quote says it all, becomes extremely tough given that the differences between the species are so subtle.

That's why I came here..... for a 4,000th opinion. :lol: