What can we say? The “true” Helfrich firefish from the Cook Istlands is a fish that we just can’t get over. For the longest time the Helfrich firefish, Nemateleotris helfrichi was the holy grail of dartfish and over the years their price has steadily declined to where they are now “only” about $100 a piece. With the relatively recent imports of the deepwater Cook Island helfrich firefish, Kevin Kohen of LiveAquaria did some research of the scientific literature that suggest the Cook Island N. helfrichi is the species that was originally described and that perhaps the fish more commonly available as the Helfrich firefish is different enough to perhaps warrant being a separate species altogether. This cook island specimen of Nemateleotris helfrichi came and went in a flash on the Diver’s Den, let’s hope there’s more where those came from.
