Marine fish hybrids always puzzle me up at the first glance. The pictures here show a hardly seen hybrid between Raccoon and Pakistani Butterfly, Chaetodon lunula x C. collare. Well blend the characteristics of both species together. The body of this cross is rather drab and dull, but what strikes the eyes is the big white stripe crossing from the head toward the gill cover and also the glowing yellow rim on top edge of the back. Overall, it look like a variant of Raccoon with a Pakistani face.
The hybrid butterflyfish was caught from Andaman sea southwestern part of Thailand, where both parent species were abundant. It was popping out in Bangkok this morning from a box at ‘Mon Marine’, local fish store who supplies a wide variety of good Thai marines in a fair price.
We often saw Raccoon Butterflyfish hybrid occasionally shown up in the trade. In the past, there are Raccoon X Panda (C. adieragastos), Raccoon X Wiebel (C. wiebeli), and many others. But including this one, there are only a few of Pakistani hybrid appearing out. And it could be said that this is one of the unusual and rare hybrid that shouldn’t be easily seen anywhere else.
