Unusual Pyramid Butterfly

[H.Tanaka]

Hi,

Here is a new comer of butterflyfish, 8cm long, not new but very unusual in appearance. The locality of capture is not known and I found it a retailer last night; it had the same coloration then, so I selected it.

It is Hemitaurichthys polylepis (mainly from the Pacific Ocean) but has a dark area on posterior half of body and a dark caudal fin. I suspected that it was a hybrid between this and H. zoster (Indian Ocean), but I do not know the area that these two co-exist.

How do you think about this specimen ? Hybrid? Just a variant ? Or merely frightened ?

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

Wait a couple days for it to get settled in, and see what the color looks like then.

 

[H.Tanaka]

Surely ! It is one of the ways and I will observe it carefully everyday. Thank you.

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

Lets us know if it keeps the coloration!

 

[H.Tanaka]

Thanks and I will do.

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

Looking at their distribution maps, it looks like they come very close together arounf the Java Trench, Southern tip of Sumatra, so perhaps, they could mix in this area.

They are very closely related, so the chances of the cross breding is good, if they do infact, meet each other.