Flasher Wrasse ID?

[cdw79]

Sold to me as a Ruby Fin Flasher, but it doesn't seem to quite match up to any flashers I've seen based on my research. Also doesn't quite look like a carpenters or mccoskers either, to my non-expert eye at least. He's very well colored up but is only roughly 2 inches long. These are the best pics I could get of him flashing

 

[Slocke]

@i cant think

 

[i cant think]

Sold to me as a Ruby Fin Flasher, but it doesn't seem to quite match up to any flashers I've seen based on my research. Also doesn't quite look like a carpenters or mccoskers either, to my non-expert eye at least. He's very well colored up but is only roughly 2 inches long. These are the best pics I could get of him flashing

Looks to me like a Mccoskeri, I believe “Ruby Fin Flasher” is the name given to a similar relative - Paracheilinus rubricaudalis. However this flasher doesn’t display the traits seen in rubricaudalis.

This is my eye being tired but also if you can then photos with more whites would help. For example this is a photo with my hybrid Flasher in;

A photo similar to this but with his fins up will help to ID the flasher. The tail looks to me like a mccoskeri though (This is usually the main tell tail sign it’s a rubricaudalis or flavianalis). Also the one filament says to me it’s not one of the species closer to Cyaneus, Filamentosus or Carpenteri. The 3 that are common in captivity with the one filament are;
- Paracheilinus mccoskeri (most likely the specimen you have)
- Paracheilinus rubricaudalis (Less likely but not impossible looking at the anal fin)
- Paracheilinus flavianalis (The anal fin is the wrong colour altogether).

 

[cdw79]

Looks to me like a Mccoskeri, I believe “Ruby Fin Flasher” is the name given to a similar relative - Paracheilinus rubricaudalis. However this flasher doesn’t display the traits seen in rubricaudalis.

I definitely agree I don't think it can be a red finned flasher. But a McCosker has an orange dorsal fin doesn't it? As well as blue lines on it as opposed to purple? A local reefer speculated it could be a McCosker x Carpenters hybrid, which seemed unlikely albeit not impossible to me, but I'm not sure

 

[i cant think]

I definitely agree I don't think it can be a red finned flasher. But a McCosker has an orange dorsal fin doesn't it? As well as blue lines on it as opposed to purple? A local reefer speculated it could be a McCosker x Carpenters hybrid, which seemed unlikely albeit not impossible to me, but I'm not sure

While not impossible for this to be a hybrid I highly doubt it. Hybrids of this genus are common in the wild but for them to wind up in captivity is rare.
Mccoskeri and Carpenteri both have blue lines, there are some that may have purple lines though. I find the line colour doesn’t always help with IDs. This is because under certain lighting it may be one colour and under another light it may be blue.
Yours looks to me more so like a Mccoskeri variant - Carpenteri usually has multiple dorsal filaments and this will usually be seen on their hybrids. The dorsal is what is throwing me off. I say this because that blocked red is unusual in Carpenteri or Mccoskeri.

Im not expecting 100% focused, pro photos but a few less blurred photos will help. If you can get him to flay his fins without flashing this will also help us more with this ID.

 

[cdw79]

Apologies at the quality of pics- it's only been in captivity, much less my QT tank, for a handful of days and is still very jumpy. I've had to take videos and try and screenshot the points where he flashes. Hopefully this helps a little?

 

[SaltyT]

Apologies at the quality of pics- it's only been in captivity, much less my QT tank, for a handful of days and is still very jumpy. I've had to take videos and try and screenshot the points where he flashes. Hopefully this helps a little?

I agree with @i cant think it's a McCosker's. A very nice looking one! Great find.

 

[cdw79]

I agree with @i cant think it's a McCosker's. A very nice looking one! Great find.

Thanks! Whether it's "just" a McCosker's or something else doesn't ultimately matter to me too much, I mostly just wanted to get a sense of whether it was fully grown or might have some more growing / coloring up to do. I'm excited to see how it matures in the coming months!

 

[doubleshot00]

Looks exactly like my Mccoskers in my tank.

 

[i cant think]

Apologies at the quality of pics- it's only been in captivity, much less my QT tank, for a handful of days and is still very jumpy. I've had to take videos and try and screenshot the points where he flashes. Hopefully this helps a little?

That’s a much easier photo to use! Looks to me like a pure mccoskeri. Generally that’s the maturity size for Mccoskeri but he has some growing potential (These guys usually max out around 2.5-3 inches).