Hey, Guys. My name is Ret Talbot, and I'm a writer and photographer who frequently covers the trade. I was in Papua New Guinea (researching a story on the SEASMART Program) when this fish was collected, and I have been following the story very closely ever since. I just thought I'd add a few things here for those of you who are interested.
First, $5000 was one bid, but there was at least one much higher than that received by Blue Zoo Aquatics, who handled the retail sale of this fish. As you know, Blue Zoo decided to sell to a reputable breeder instead of to the highest bidder...pretty cool I think! Matt Pedersen is the breeder, and his blog about the project is located here:
The Lightning Project - The ongoing saga of the PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish Breeding Project
This is officially the second PNG lightning maroon clownfish to hit the North American market. The other arrived in 2008. There have been some other cool perc variations seen (and even collected) on this reef. These are all 100% natural fishes (not manufactured designer clownfishes). Anecdotally, there are more "true" PNG lightning maroon clowns on this reef as I type. There was an April Fools gag published at ReefBuilders about a third juvi collected on 1 April. It was a pretty good gag and a nice Photoshop job.
Just to add to what was said above about the fishers getting paid a little more for PNG lightning maroon clowns, what we may call "fair trade" is a hallmark of the SEASMART Program. The SEASMART-trained fisher who collected this fish was paid several times the amount of the most expensive fish ordered by SEASMART that week. Again, pretty cool, I think.
The Blue Zoo article mentioned above is lengthy and comprehensive. It can be found here:
The Story Behind Blue Zoo's PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish
There is a much shorter SEASMART article here:
seasmart
There is some background on PNG and SEASMART in the blog about my trip here:
On Assignment in Papua New Guinea with Travel Writer and Photographer RetTalbot
...and by the way, the PNG lightning maroon clown was not the only cool fish I saw on the trip, as evidenced by this wrasse. Enjoy!
