Liopropoma aberrans is one of those quintessential rare reef fish that up to now, only existed for us through a fuzzy in-situ photograph taken by a submersible. Now, a submersible-caught specimen has come into extremely clear focus which really shows what makes this deepwater basslet stand out from the wrasse bass, cave bass and candy basslet of the Caribean Sea.
Liopropoma aberrans has been one of the deepwater caribbean fish that has been known about for many years, it occurs from Curacao to North Carolina, but since it lives at extreme depths it was always just barely out of reach of Florida and other Atlantic fish collectors. This basslet species has already claimed the life of one fish collector, Eric Reichardt, who is believed to have been attacked by sharks while diving off of Pompano Beach while diving to the limits for the elusive Liopropoma aberrans.
The aberrant deepwater basslet has been captured before but it was not able to survive the decompression process. Not surprisingly the L. aberrans specimen will be sent to Blue Harbor Japan where we presume it will sell for more than any other Liopropoma before it.
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