If you recall the post on Jimmy Ma’s incredible Coral Beauty, we mentioned that the aberrant individual retained this unusual coloration for more than four months. Aberrant individuals normally lose their unique patterns and revert back to the cookie cutter templates within weeks. The reasoning behind this phenomenon is not quite clear, but that’s just the heartbreaking aspect of collecting aberrant fish. Jimmy’s Coral Beauty however, surprised him and us by keeping the coloration for more than four months. This post marks the eighth month that the Coral Beauty has kept its coloration. Certainly an astonishing feat.
Not only has the coloration held, it has changed slightly – for the better. The blue marking on the upper lip has grown to become more prominent, and it looks like a mustache of sorts. Think Charlie Chaplin. We’ve also noticed some orange spots and markings on the tail that wasn’t there before. Although these new markings are minor, it depicts the dynamic and fluidity of the aberrant coloring, which allows for rapid changing – usually back to normal in captivity.
Coral beauties are very diverse and finding an oddball individual like this one is difficult, but not impossible. Specimens like this do show up, albeit rarely. But keeping the coloration, that’s another issue altogether. We’ve seen progress on this fish at the fourth and eight month mark, now let’s look forward to the next update by Jimmy.
