Genicanthus semifasciatusis perhaps the rarest of the obtainable six species of swallowtail angelfishes that make up part of theGenicanthusgenus. The other four members are extremely rare and conventionally unobtainable to the average aquarist, perhaps with the exception ofG. personatus, which only recently managed to reach a handful of extremely lucky reefers willing to pay top dollar for them.
Like all members of the swallowtail angelfish genus,G. semifasciatusis haremic in nature and also sexually dichromatic, with males and females displaying different colours.G. semifasciatushave always been rare, but more so in recent years, appearing only once in a blue moon, in small numbers, and almost always in bad condition due to improper collection and shipping. The eight female specimens above brought in by Barnett Shutman from RVS Fishworld is a spectacular sight forGenicanthuslovers and puts a stop after the long hiatus.
Three of the eight specimens are now happily residing inTony Vargas‘ reef tank. Not only areGenicanthusangels haremic, species within this genus are also able to change sex interchangeably like most other fishes living in a haremic social setting, such asCirrhilabrus,PseudanthiasandCentropyge. The three female specimens in Tony’s tank will soon sort out the pecking order, and the dominant one will morph into a fully functional male.
该物种的雄性在拥有一个明亮的黄色面膜上，可以水平地沿着身体倾斜，将条纹后的后部与没有条纹的前部划分。我们要感谢RVS Fishworld和Tony Vargas的Barnett Shutman的照片，我们希望将来看到一个更新，当时其中一个变成了壮观的螺柱
