wrasses an clownfish

December 1, Joe Rowlett –

At last, we’ve reached the thrilling conclusion to this comprehensive review of Fairy Wrasse evolution, and it’s time to once more dwell upon the topic of the group’s origins. As we’ve previously discussed, this enormously diverse genus can be comfortably categorized into a pair of major lineages that serve to organize these fishes into more comprehensible portions.

There are species with short pelvic fins, and there are species with longer pelvic fins. Corresponding with this difference are numerous other similarities regarding their respective color patterns, particularly when it comes to the reflective caudal fin of the long-finned group. Female coloration can likewise be informative, as this tends to be a conserved feature within and across the various species groups. But what all of these species have shared up until now is a fairly standard morphology.



By and large, the morphological counts of things like fin spines and rays, lateral line scales and gill rakers are homogenous across the entire genus. Certain individual groups are recognizable due to some minor alteration of their proportions (e.g. the pointy head seen in the lubbocki or filamentosus groups), but the overall morphology is still much the same. There is, however, still one more species remaining which we have yet to cover, and it differs from its relatives in somewhat more meaningful ways.


Large terminal male seen in situ at Noumea, New Caledonia. Credit: Hiroshi Osamu

Cirrhilabrus laboutei is a fairy wrasse sui generis. It was first made known in a 1976 guide to the fishes of New Caledonia authored in part by Pierre Laboute, who included a photograph and a short sentence mentioning its size (15cm… though it’s actually closer to 12cm), habitat depth (15-30m), and the observation that it hovers several meters above the bottom along with an unidentified fairy basslet.

Mr. Laboute, who went on to author a number of guides to the New Caledonian fauna, shared information of his find with Dr. John Randall, which led to its official scientific description in 1982. Pierre, for his efforts, is now immortalized with one of the more resplendent wrasses in the sea—Laboute’s Fairy Wrasse.


Seen in situ at Noumea, New Caledonia. Credit: Ochi Ryuji

Despite still having essentially the same morphological counts as other fairy wrasses, two features unique to this fish serve to set it apart from its congeners. The first has to do with the unusually elongated spines of the anal fin, something seemingly not found anywhere else in the entire family. These only develop in large males, and they are erected and spread apart during the nuptial display. Whether these finger-like spines serve any tactile function or are merely visual stimulants for the females is entirely unknown.

Equally idiosyncratic are the rounded pelvic fins, which again have no real parallel within this genus; however, the closely related flasher wrasses (Paracheilinus) share this fin shape. Other related groups—Pseudocheilinus, Pseudocheilinops, Pteragogus—possess similarly rounded pelvic fins, lending support to the notion that the elongate fins seen in most fairy wrasses are a derived feature. This can be taken as further evidence that C. laboutei likely belongs to an early lineage which predates the acquisition of this trait.


Juvenile & female coloration, unique in the genus. Credit: B-box Marine, yokaisui, Freewater, mdx2

Other characteristics also stand out as unusual. Take, for instance, the great similarity between the coloration of juveniles and females relative to mature males (other species typically show a fairly drastic change during development). We do still see some of the same juvenile landmarks found elsewhere in the genus, namely the three prominent lines running along the length of the body.

This is not so different from the juveniles of the lunatus, jordani or rubriventralis groups, but laboutei is noteworthy in that these juvenile lines don’t ever fade away with age as we would expect. The upper two are kept into adulthood and serve to border a stripe extending posteriorly from the eye, while the lowermost line remains associated with the posterior lateral line scales.


Common patterns. Credit: Fenton Walsh, Doug Perrine, Gerry Allen, Itaru Takaku

If we compare the arrangement of laboutei’s patterning to its relatives, we see a mix of features from a variety of different lineages. The aforementioned eye stripe is a common trait in the diverse jordani group, while the short dashes present near the pectoral fin base appear again in the distantly related C. exquisitus and C. johnsoni. The caudal fin, delicately patterned in a series of concentric lines and dots, is not so different from the temminckii or rubriventralis groups, but, importantly, laboutei’s fin never has any indication of a reflective sheen to it.


Variations seen in this species, likely to be behaviorally induced. Credit: Aquaseeker & Aquarise

Mature males develop a characteristic black band dorsally along the head, which we can only find vague similarities to in things like lubbocki, jordani and rubrimarginatus. Again, the narrative here is that of a feature which is common to many distantly related groups and which laboutei has put its own idiosyncratic twist on.

The nuptial pattern is poorly documented and in many ways unknown. Certain specimens show a blackening of the dorsal and anal fins and an intensification of the colors along the body, but these may merely represent individual variation within the species. Size and biogeography don’t appear to correlate with these differences in male coloration, as similarly sized males from both Australia and Vanuatu show a range of phenotypic variations.

The most plausible inference that can be made is that the kind of shimmer in the stripes or caudal fin that is otherwise so prevalent in fairy wrasses is mostly or entirely lacking in laboutei. Might this indicate yet another ancestral trait? Aquarists could serve an important role in advancing our understanding of this species by recording the displays of captive specimens!

Since its initial discovery, C. laboutei has turned up in other nearby regions of the Southwest Pacific, including Vanuatu, the Loyalty Islands, the Chesterfield Islands, Elisabeth Reef, and as far north as Cairns along the Great Barrier Reef and as far south as the Solitary Islands in New South Wales. This is a virtually identical biogeography to C. bathyphilus, but, unlike with that fish, there doesn’t appear to be a sister species found to the east. Poor C. laboutei is all alone in this world—the only Cirrhilabrus in such phylogenetic isolation.


Seen in situ at Noumea, New Caledonia. Credit: Hiroshi Osamu

Aquarium specimens are liable to come from any number of locales: Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Australia. Specimens collected near Cairns, Australia are said to range from 10-40 meters, with most found in the 10-20 meter range. The fish collectors and exporters in this region do a far better job than what we generally see from their Indonesian and Philippines counterparts, and so specimens of laboutei typically arrive at their destination in tip-top shape. For such a robustly sized Cirrhilabrus, this species is rather on the wimpy side and is far more likely to be victimized by boisterous tankmates than to cause any problems itself. Pierre Laboute’s wrasse is a lover, not a fighter, though whether Pierre Laboute himself was of a similar disposition I cannot speak to.

Acknowledgments

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name your top 5 faveriote wrasses i am wondering witch ones you like

 

April 1, Jake Adams –

Longfin clownfish are still the white buffalo of the captive breeding world and now it looks like we’ll be seeing longfin clownfish from the black Darwin ocellaris. The Longfin Darwin Ocellaris was found by one of Sea & Reef Aquaculture’s attentive staff Brandon Weik. He spotted it in one of our grow-out tanks among thousands of regular black and white Darwin ocellaris.

Not surprisingly the unusual looking Longfin Darwin Ocellaris was attacked by its fellow tank mates and its fins were already ripped some. After rescuing the poor Darwin Longfin and isolating it in its own tank the fish grew quickly and we were all surprised to see the size of its fins as they grew back. One interesting note is that the right pectoral fin and first dorsal fin of the fish are completely normal while the rest of its fins are greatly enlarged.

Take a look at that left pectoral fin. Some people would call it a lucky fin, but with elongation like this it really is more like a lucky cape! The Longfin Darwin Ocellaris is now destined to become a broodstock fish. Sea & Reef intends to find out if the genetics behind this longfin mutation will be expressed in its offspring and they are currently searching for a suitable mate with a liking for the unusual.


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