“Holy Grail” Angelfish Bred In Captivity

By Jeff Kurtz

Certain marine fish are so uncommon in the aquarium hobby yet so beautiful to behold that they fetch an absolutely mind-blowing price (sometimes in the many thousands of dollars for a single specimen) when they do make a rare appearance in the trade. Among these “Holy Grail” species is Genicanthus personatus, the masked angelfish.

Now, thanks to the tireless efforts of biologist Karen Brittain of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology—and as was revealed with much fanfare at this year’s MACNA conference in Denver—this virtually unattainable Hawaiian endemic has been successfully spawned in captivity, bringing it at least one step closer to accessibility within our hobby.

Beauty unmasked

Though not garishly colored like so many reef fishes, G. personatus is a real “looker” nonetheless. Juveniles are pearly white overall with a starkly contrasting black “mask” obscuring the face. Mature specimens are sexually dichromatic. Females maintain much of the dark mask and exhibit a broad black band on the tail and yellow coloration on their pectoral and pelvic fins. Males also exhibit the black tail band and yellow paired fins, but their face turns yellow and their dorsal and anal fins develop yellowish-orange coloration on the margins.

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