Wow! Yours sure is a lot more colorful than I've seen once they reach that size. The ones that I have worked with lost that purple color at around 2". They are a deeper water fish, the ones that I've seen were collected further west than Hawaii - usually off the coast of Africa. Here is what I wrote about them in my Advanced Marine Aquarium Techniques book (and the fish pictured in the book was about 4" long and had almost no purple color at all remaining!).
White Masked Grouper, Gracila albomarginalis, Serranidae
Small juveniles of this species are perhaps the most fantastically colored member of this family, being bright purple and red in color. Rarely if ever collected at this stage, most imports are of fish that have already begun their transition to the duller white and gray adult coloration. Less expensive than the related Pollen’s grouper, they are likewise very shy and reclusive when first acclimated to an aquarium.
Jay Hemdal
). Thanks for the info guys.
