当我们想到杂种时，我们会想象来自同一属的两个紧密相关的物种之间极少数罕见的一次性标本。在大多数这些情况下Amphiprion frenatus还有栗色的小丑鱼，Premnas biaculeatus.These two clownfish belonging to different genera look superficially similar but they have pretty different body shapes and very different mating behaviors.
If you’ve seen Julian Sprung’s reef fish hybridizing talk you’ll probably conclude like us that this fish is the result of accidental cross-fertilization. Like the accidental hybrids that frequently arose at ORA we believe this cross-generic clownfish hybrid was the result of pairs of maroon clownfish and tomato clownfish spawning in close proximity and around the same time so that the sperm of one parent drifted over to fertilize eggs in the nest of the other parent.
Although these tomato-maroon clownfish are sometimes seen as juveniles in shipments of reef fish from the Northern Philippines, this large adult collected by RVS Fishworld is a rare look at what those resulting hybrid fish look like. We’re not particularly huge fans of tomato or maroon clownfish but the large showy body and bright orange head of this individual is actually impressive, and could make for a super nice display animal in a fish aquarium.
