Pictichromis dottybacks are a staple of the marine aquarium hobby, with strawberry and diadema dottybacks being a common and hardy fish well suited for beginner reef tanks. Since these fish are so abundant and often seen in tanks and stores, it’s always a nice surprise to see such recognizable fish break away from the mold.
Two such specimens of yellow-sided strawberry dottybacks have just been fished up in the Philippines by RVS Fishworld. We’ve written about aberrant Pictichromis dottybacks before but it has usually been the lone oddball specimen, and rarely have they shown this degree of yellow coloration on the body.
What makes these two fish special is that they are both about the same size, and possibly a similar age, leading us to theorize that they are quite possibly siblings. They also share the same style of aberrant yellow color on the side even if the full expression is different in each specimen.
These two new aberrant dottybacks are just the latest in a long parade of wild and wacky fish that RVS Fishworld has collected in the Northern Philippines. It’s simply incredible how much diversity and novelty is being discovered in this northern part of the Coral Triangle and we can’t even imagine what will be fished up next.
