Liopropoma lunulatum is the latest uber rarity to be collected from the depths of the Celebes Sea, right alongside that amazing Sacura speciosa we told you about earlier this week.
This 4.5 inch fish was collected at a depth beyond 40 meters (130 feet) and as far as we can tell, Like the Sacura speciosa it is the first specimen of its kind to ever be photographed alive. We have learned that this particular Liopropoma lunulatum ended up at the SunPet wholesaler in Atlanta GA but it is having some issues maintaining proper buoyancy.
Unfortunately, many Pacific Ocean Liopropoma basslets frequently suffer from decompression issues, either due to the extreme depths at which they are caught or a hasty decompression period. Maybe some Liopropoma are simply more susceptible to over inflated gas bladders at sea level because they don’t migrate vertically in the ocean depths as much as some other fish.
In any case, congrats to Neptune Marine for harvesting this fish and bringing it to the aquarium trade and perhaps an extra level of care in decompression of deepwater basslets will ensure long term survival of these amazing Liopropoma specimens.
