The Rose Island Baslet, Pseudoplesiops rosae, is an attractive small dottyback which has very rarely been imported for the marine aquarium. One of the usual suspects when it comes to acquiring rare and new fish, Jason Edward of Greenwich Aquaria recently imported a pair of these colorful, delicate looking dottybacks from Cebu. The face and head of Pseudoplesiops rosae is quite striking with a yellow head that becomes orange towards the mouth and lips. Capping off the anterior are eyes with bright red irises and green pupils. The general look of the rose basslet kind of remind us of the Australian multicolor dottyback, Ogilbyina novaehollandiae, but this species is likely to stay much smaller and we hope the disposition and attitude will follow suit. Although this rose basslet individual is still an adolescent, when it gets older and larger it’s body coloration will appear more pinkish overall like the appearance which is more apparent in the image below.
The nicer of the Pseudoplesiops rosae that Greenwich Aquaria imported was purchased, photographed and filmed by Micael Lukaczyn, aka aquabacs. Thanks to Jason and Michael for taking good care of the rarely seen rose island basslet, Pseudoplesiops rosae and let’s hope Jason can continue to bring in more of these and other exotic reef fish. More pictures and vid after the break.
