Randall’s deepwater anthias first came to our attention a scant five years ago when the Original description of Odontanthias randalli was published. With that intro of the new anthias species, all we got was one lousy picture of a very colorful fish.
Since Randall’s deepwater anthias is far only documented from Lombok fish markets where it is caught on hook and line from 100 meters deep, it’s no wonder that this fish has not made an aquarium debut, until now. Late last year a single gorgeous juvenile Odontanthias randalli was collected on the southern coast of Java and we got the pictures to show it.
We are assuming that this fish is an Odontanthias randalli, based on where it was collected, but to date very few of these rarely collected deepwater Odontanthias have been encountered in the aquarium hobby. O. borbonius is the only member of the genus which is seen with any regularity, and so O. randalli is new territory for us.
But the location is pretty spot on for where we would expect to find this species. Interestingly, the O. randalli was collected alongside a group of borbonius anthias in an area known for being rich in anthias. The discovery of the randall’s anthias, alive and looking gorgeous, spread across the rare fish channels with lightning speed.
Just a couple short days later the first live O. randalli was alive and well at Blue Harbor Japan, swimming and eating with no issues. Big thanks for Kengo Zeze for another round of pictures showing off a rarely seen reef fish species. Like all the Odontanthias, juveniles look pretty but large adult specimens are out of this world, so we really hope to get an update on this specimen as he grows up in captivity.
