The Chaetodon butterflyfish of the subgenus Roa are amongst the most beautiful, striking and highly sought after marine fish by rare fish collectors. All except the one which goes by the name of “Dirty Burgess”. The dirty burgess butterflyfish is a hybrid of the dull Chaetodon burgessi and some other unlucky Roa butterflyfish such
as the Tinker’s or the yellowcrown butterflyfish. The bastard result of this cross is a muddy uncolored fish which looks more like a sick Heniochus than a member of the subgenus Roa. Adding insult to injury is the exorbitant price these fish go for because they are highly prized in Asia as a delicacy for their concentrated mutt flavor. The people who actually would even want to keep this fish in an aquarium can be counted on one hand. Compare to the photo of a full blooded C. tinkeri and it’s easy to see why the dirty burgess butterflyfish is in such low demand for aquariums. Due to the outcry from true Roa fans in the scientific and marine aquarium communities, famed ichthyologists Jack Randall and Rich Pyle have stepped in to bailout the image of the Roa subgenus by reclassifying the dirty burgess butterflyfish where it belongs, as a low level Heniochus.
Randall & Pyle. 2009. Reclassification of the Dirty Burgess Butterflyfish to the genus Heniochus.
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