Today’s Awesome Fish Spotlight features anotherCuraçaogem from the genusSerranus. We loveSerranus多年来,我们covered articles on a wide range of species from this genus. The genus attains highest development in the Atlantic, especially in the Caribbean where aquarium favourites such asS. baldwini,S. tigrinusand the beautifulS. annularisare found. A couple of them are deepwater and are very rarely seen. One of them is the Walleye Basslet,Serranus luciopercanus.
S. luciopercanusis a beautiful basslet that inhabits a wide range of depths, but is generally deepwater. LikeSerranus phoebeandSerranus chionaraia,S. luciopercanusis rather cryptic and occurs singly. They are never abundant and are offered only very sporadically, and at rather expensive prices. Also known as the Walleye or Checkered basslet, the juveniles are prominently white based with a series of evenly spaced horizontal black elongated rectangles, lending the fish a distinctive checkerboard pattern.
As they age and mature, the pattern subdues in colour and takes on a less contrasted appearance as seen in the larger ones above. The torpedo and streamlined shape is quite unique to this species, but the behaviour is similar to the rest. They prefer hovering in mid water and making short flitting movements around their environment, quite typical of the genusSerranus.
Apart from the rather hefty price tag,S. luciopercanuslike most basslets are hardy and very easy to keep. This video above shows a juvenile at BlueHarbor taking prepared food enthusiastically. With so many choices coming out of Curaçao these days, a deepwater set up featuring fish from that area would be a perfect and novel way of keeping this fish. This tiny juvenile headlining the article is aDynasty Marinespeciality, and was offered toIwarna Aquafarmof Singapore.
