Sabra616
Community Member
This fish is not for sale. I am a fish nerd and want to share this with fellow fish nerds. 
My Purple tang, named Xanthur, purchased from Surge Marine Life in July 2025 has a soft yellow band running from the top of the dorsal to the base of the tail. When I received the fish, that part of the fin was opaque and I assumed color would develop over time. It did but presented as yellow in color. The fish is roughly 10 months old and the yellow started to appear at ~7 months old.
I reached out to Owner/Operator Kevin Barden at Surge Marine Life and he has not seen this before. I did some research and found it has been documented that some specimens in the Red Sea had yellow or orange on the dorsal. This lead me to ask if the brood stock were from the Red Sea and they were–which I found interesting. I have attached images here. I will gather more over the next months and include updates on if the color reverts, changes, or stays the same.
In addition to Xanthur, I have a Hippo tang (also from Surge Marine Life) and both fish are fantastic and healthy!
Thank you to Kevin at @SurgeMarineLife for allowing me to share this special tang with the R2R community.
My Purple tang, named Xanthur, purchased from Surge Marine Life in July 2025 has a soft yellow band running from the top of the dorsal to the base of the tail. When I received the fish, that part of the fin was opaque and I assumed color would develop over time. It did but presented as yellow in color. The fish is roughly 10 months old and the yellow started to appear at ~7 months old.
I reached out to Owner/Operator Kevin Barden at Surge Marine Life and he has not seen this before. I did some research and found it has been documented that some specimens in the Red Sea had yellow or orange on the dorsal. This lead me to ask if the brood stock were from the Red Sea and they were–which I found interesting. I have attached images here. I will gather more over the next months and include updates on if the color reverts, changes, or stays the same.
In addition to Xanthur, I have a Hippo tang (also from Surge Marine Life) and both fish are fantastic and healthy!
Thank you to Kevin at @SurgeMarineLife for allowing me to share this special tang with the R2R community.
