Looks like that planeload of rare Curacao reef fish flew right by Phoenix and straight to Japan’s Blue Harbor. The image above may be blurry but it’s still very exciting for us because it’s one of the only ones displaying the extremely rare Serranus luciopercanus, the cross hatch bass on the left with a handfull of bullnose basslets. S. luciopercanus is related to the more common chalk, tobacco and orangeback basses but since it is endemic to the Southern Caribbean, Honduras and the West Indies, the crosshatch bass is very rarely seen in the aquarium trade. Also displayed is an image of the teenie weeney spanish flag, Gonioplectrus hispanus that was also captured in Curacao; it’s diminutive size somewhat explains the relatively low price of $1500 that was initially proposed for this fish. Also included in this shipment were Lipogramma klayi, L. evides and Bullisichthys caribbaeus. Now that all these Dutch Antilles gems have made it to Japan they will surely sell quick and be properly revered, let’s hope some of the Japanese aquarists who get these fish are handy with a photocamera and FlickR.
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