The DaVinci clownfish is a newly announced strain of Amphiprion ocellaris from Sea & Reef Aquaculture. Sometimes Sea & Reef is dropping names for clownfish strains that have been produced for years, even if their operation “refined” them, but the DaVinci clownish is something unique, even if it isn’t unknown.
We’ve never been particularly fond of the Picasso Snowflake clownfish, mostly due to the irregular black outline of the barring that most of them display. We’ve seen captive bred clownfish like the DaVinci clownfish before, and admired their curvy barring and distinct sinuous outline.
There has been a smattering of these curvy-barred clownfish here and there, sometimes called “gladiator clownfish”, due to the helmet shaped barring of some individuals. Sea & Reef’s DaVinci also shares some similarities with the Super Picasso clownfish we saw from Bali Aquarich.
The absolute novelty of the DaVinci clownish is insubstantial compared to having a clownfish hatchery paying special attention to a new domestic clownfish aesthetic. To this end Sea & Reef is grading the DaVinci clownfish into no fewer than three grades: The B grade with wild and wacky curvy stripes, the A grade with some curvy barring and occasional spotting, and an extreme DaVinci grade which shows a high degree of curvy white coverage. [Sea & Reef]
Update: We temporarily confused the Picasso for the Sbowflake clownfish strains, each of which represent different species of Amphiprion. Matt Carberry of Sustainable Aquatics shared some interesting details about this clownfish strain in the comments below.
