The Takeuchi angelfish is a species of Genicanthus that can only be found in waters of the Ogasawara Islands. The Ogasawaras are protected in that you can fish and you can collect fish but neither of which are allowed with the use of SCUBA. Although the owner of this fish who lives in Hong Kong claims the fish was caught while snorkeling, like other swallowtail angelfish G. takeuchii is most often found below one hundred feet of depth, well below snorkeling depths.
Kicking out the last leg on that shady story is the fact that the Takeuchi angelfish specimen in the video is clearly suffering from an enlarged gas bladder, the kind of decompression issue that only occurs with improper handling of deepwater fish. Genicanthus takeuchii is a gorgeous angelfish but we find it hard to be entertained by the smoking gun video of the illegally caught specimen above.
This kind of flaunting of illegally sourced marine livestock is the type that casts a bad shadow on our hobby and industry which already takes a lot of flack for our impact on coral reefs and reef fish. Not to mention that this Takeuchi angelfish was not captured by professional fish collectors and the complications with it’s swim bladder will more than likely result in the death of this beautiful fish. For a legit (and better) video of the gorgeous Genicanthus takeuchii see our previous posts from dives in Ogasawara.
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