Twinspot Wrasse? I don't think so...South Pacific amazing transformations

[Nezmo]

I saw a picture of a juvenile Twinspot Wrasse many years ago, and for a while, I was obsessed with getting one. I never understood why they were so hard to find in the trade. After seeing them on the reef, and observing their transformations I can say that it's best to leave these striking beauties in the ocean. The 2 inch juveniles go through several transformations and if they become an adult, can reach 4 feet in length. This is visually documented along with a few other dramatic transformations in the first part of our new video "Amazing Transformations, South Pacific Islands"
Here's a description:
Many fish undergo startling changes as they transition from their juvenile phase to the adult. After the Caribbean version of Amazing Transformations, we now present part 1 of the Pacific Islands Amazing Transformations. We begin with the Koran Angelfish. The Juvenile displays the striking blue, white, and black semicircular stripes and colors that eventually fade into the adult color pattern with the intense blue markings remaining on the head, fins, and tail.
The next fish is the Twinspot Wrasse. The juvenile is very colorful with it's bright orange double saddles on it's back and the two very obvious false eye spots above the orange. The face is a blizzard of black spots that conceal the actual eyes so predators strike at the false eyes and allow the fish to escape. This fish transitions from a 2 inch fish to a 4 foot long adult with several color changes along the way.
The last fish is the remarkable Oriental Sweetlips. This is the one transitioning fish that always mystifies me. I have a hard time believing that the juvenile, and the adult are the same species. The videos to make this production were shot in Fiji, Bali, and Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands. Have a watch, and let me know what you think . You can, at least, enjoy the Twinspot Wrasse here.


If you haven't seen our Caribbean transformations video, which is our most popular video, you can see it at the top of this thread here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/n...ations-caribbean-edition.369912/#post-4567545

We invite you to subscribe to our channel to keep up with the latest video updates, and check out some of what we have in there of particular interest to our fellow aquarists.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtiaiesuKrYlwg6aJWeiR0g?sub_confirmation=1

 

[glb]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Nezmo]

Thanks for sharing!

I'm currently working on part 2 of this Pacific Transformations video which includes Emperor Angels, Yellow Cubicus Boxfish, and Yellow Tail Wrasses, so keep an eye out for it.

 

[4FordFamily]

Very cool! Twinspot are neat juveniles and I kept mine for 4 years before selling to a hobbyist with a larger tank. Mine was slow growing considering the giant size potential it went from 3 to 5 inches or so during that timeframe. I do agree it’s not a great home aquaria fish.

 

[Nezmo]

We found these in abundance in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands when we visited in October a few years ago. We could not find one juvenile with the orange saddles, and the false eye spots, every one had already transitioned to the stage where the back half turned completely black. We returned this year, and went in the spring, hoping to find some juveniles, and we did. It seemed like they only kept the juvenile colors for about 6 months before losing their juvi colors. Even the larger juveniles, in the spring, were already starting to get darker in the back half, as you can see in the video. There were a lot of sub-adults anywhere from one foot to 3 feet, and that monster at the end of the clip was actually 4 feet long, and the largest fish we saw the entire 2 weeks in the lagoon.
I find it fascinating that yours stayed at the juvenile phase as long as it did, it seemed to happen a lot faster on the reef. Did it keep the orange saddles and eye spots the whole time?