Rare fish lovers, it’s time we brought you an update on the SEASMART-collected, Lightning Maroon Clownfish from Papua New Guinea (PNG). Forgive the water clarity – the female Maroon Clown is always “digging”. Forgive the camera work – it was shot with one hand using a Nikon D5000. Forgive the focus – it would appear that the D5000 doesn’t auto-focus when shooting videos! And finally, forgive what may very well be another risky step – at least that’s how it might appear to the uninitiated. After what feels like months (and actually probably was months), tonight I “sacked up” as they say and made a bold move.
Despite the insistence of some that the Lightning Maroon Clownfish was way too large to be a “male”, I introduced it to what is unquestionably the largest Maroon Clownfish I have personally seen (it’s about as long as my hand). No Maroon Clownfish of that size is going to be anything other than a female in any pairing situation! On this first date (yes, this time captured in true HD), I am very happy to report that initially, it seems that for the time being, when addressing the Lightning Maroon in a formal setting, it will be as Mister Lightning Maroon.
While this latest experiment is very promising, I still have plans to return the Lightning Maroon to its isolation box (a.k.a. “jail”) for a bit longer. The next date may very well be the last date, so I want to be sure that I can devote much more time to observation than I can over the next week or two. Remember, you can catch an expanded version of this story on the Lightning Maroon Clownfish’s website, The Lightning Project! I’ve left you with a few more candid videos from their date below the break:
Here’s video of 2 juvenile PNG Maroon Clownfish being introduced, to show you what could have happened on the Lightning Maroon’s first date. Thankfully, what you just saw below is what would’ve likely happened if the Lightning Maroon Clownfish was a “female”.
