It’s been a good long while since we’ve seen a white longnose butterflyfish turn up in the aquarium hobby but we’ve got a fresh look at one thanks to Son’s Aquarium Fish Trading. The last time we saw a white Forcipiger longirostris was way back in May 2011 when Abyss Aquatics landed a medium sized specimen in the UK.
This particular individual of white longnose butterflyfish is remarkable in how bright and how large it is, with a tube mouth which is at least a couple inches long on its own. Aberrant colors are actually quite rare in butterflyfish, except in the longnose butterflyfish wherein totally black specimens are infrequently sighted.
Longnose butterflyfish are not the easiest species to keep, but they’re also not the hardest to acclimate to aquarium life. Hopefully this stunning white longnose butterflyfish ends up in the hands of a capable saltwater fish aquarist because this fish would make quite a showy specimen, especially when it throws up its ‘warcrest’ of very tall first dorsal spines!
