We don’t all agree with the practice of variants selection of Amphiprion ocellaris, but this new strain introduced by Sea & Reef Aquaculture surely is fascinating (articolo in italiano).
The new strain has been initially selected from an individual of a previous form called MochaDaVinci for its peculiar black and golden coloration. Such individual has unexpectedly exhibited an interesting rare mutation: a reduction of the golden color with a white preponderance and more definite lines, for this cow-pattern result.
Offsprings of this individual bred with a black ocellaris presented the even less expected pattern seen below:
The new generation’s body was characterized by an even more white preponderance, especially on the face, a trait which had never been observed before in captive-bred Amphiprion clown fishes.
This new strain hasn’t been named yet, and it’s currently being presented at the Waschington DC MACNA.
We don’t necessarily need to be huge fans of the phenotype selections by humans in clown fishes to appreciate this single looking new arrival. The fact that these varieties are even produced is purely the consequence of a market request, and it surely isn’t a new practice: let’s just think about gold fishes and dogs breeds.
We are really curious to get to know the new eccentric name which will probably characterize this new ocellaris clown fish: the Sea & Reef aquaculture has in fact asked all its customers to help them come up with an appropriate name… and after hearing names such as DaVinci, MochaVinci, Snowflake, Main Blizzard (just to remember a few) we definitely expect an incredible surprise!
