The elusive Bodianus neopercularis and its near perfect clone
The genusBodianushas got to be one of the the favorites amongst reefers and fish lovers alike. They’re robust, hardy, have so much personality and not to mention beautiful. Here at ReefBuilders, we’ve already covered many of the rarer members of this genus such asB. masudai,B. paraleucosticticusandB. sanguineus.
While both are equally rare and highly sought after in the trade, they’re not impossible to obtain and a few specimens have entered the aquarium trade in the past.
Of course, almost all specimens captured have made their way to Japan, as seen by the picture above fromBlueHarbor. Both species may look identical at first glance, but they can be differentiated from the anal fin and the tail.B. neopercularishas a thicker red band on the anal fin whileB. opercularishas a thinner one.
While the difference between the two is minute, it just goes to show how little it takes to warren the differentiation of two species. We don’t know how different the two species are genetically, but based on appearance, its safe to say that they’re almost carbon copies of each other.