Purple tangs are not purple.

[AKL1950]

Well I am a career pilot and had to pass color test every year for 40 years.……and yes, I passed them all. That fish picture is navy blue, not purple.

 

[dedragon]

One upped with my clown fish

Looks like its about to explode lol. Might need to go on a diet

 

[rtparty]

Says compare to Blue Hippo tang and shows a Powder Blue

 

[OrionN]

Says compare to Blue Hippo tang and shows a Powder Blue

That is because I don’t have a Blue Hippo tang

 

[rtparty]

That is because I don’t have a Blue Hippo tang

Google does

 

[Spare time]

I'm color blind so you could basically say its blue or purple and I wouldn't know lol

 

[Tamberav]

Look blue to me under daylight, maybe some of the reef lighting makes them seem purple...

 

[OrionN]

Look blue to me under daylight, maybe some of the reef lighting makes them seem purple...

That looks purple to me. Purple and dark purple.

 

[Tamberav]

Here is a purple one, with a purple hippo tang and a purple clam right behind it

 

[Tamberav]

everything is blueish under blue light. If you want to compair, compair hime with the Blue Hipo tang.
My Purple tang is PURPLE under white/daylight light, even purple under 10K light.
Somebody is colorblind and it ain't me.
Purple

Blue

BLUE, I think it is you

 

[World Citizen]

Asking your wife the next time when she gets a new dress:
- "I that Tang blue?"
-- "Are you calling me a fish?"

I run mostly white light. Women tend to call him Purple, Men tend to call her Blue.

I say Blurple.

 

[i cant think]

Never would’ve thought there was a topic more heated than QT haha.

I don’t say blue or purple I say both;
You can get blue that can be rather dark and merge into purple.
Here’s 1 shade of Blue and 3 shades of purple.

When we think purple we generally think the bottom two but the purple tang is more of a middle shade between blue and purple.
There is also one easy way to solve it;
Pick the blue/purple colour and then see what Google says.

 

[i cant think]

There is also one easy way to solve it;
Pick the blue/purple colour and then see what Google says.

To save your guys’ time, I went through and did this for every photo;
As you can see, blue is in all of them with a couple having a tint of purpleish blue.

So my vote goes to Purple tangs being Navy Blue which can sometimes look purple to our eyes.

 

[billyocean]

Look blue to me under daylight, maybe some of the reef lighting makes them seem purple...

IYKYK

 

[Reefing102]

Yes, British Virgin Islands. Purple tangs have been documented there since 2018. When we snorkeled Salt Island we saw a lot of them. Much darker blue than Atlantic Blue Tangs, but I would say more dark navy blue looking than purple. Having said that, if you had a bunch of bright blue fish that were all light to sky blue and there was a purple tang among them, it would definitely be darker and look purple compared to the others. As others have said, it all depends on the lighting.

Huh interesting. Didn’t know that. I’ll have to check that out (if I have the opportunity) the next time I visit. And I 100% agree depends on lighting many of these pictures have a blue hint or purple hint or both.

 

[i cant think]

I have to say, this truly shows how large purple tangs can get! My further LFS had a purple and yellow come from a tank break down. That yellow they have has to be 6-7” across and the purple is the size of a small Desjardini Sailfin (medium sized dinner plate).

 

[Jase4224]

Lol..top is blue.
Bottom is baby-ish blue
Neither of those are purple in any palette

exactly

 

[Jase4224]

Here's two different purples to compare.

Help me convince the reefing world

 

[Jase4224]

everything is blueish under blue light. If you want to compair, compair hime with the Blue Hipo tang.
My Purple tang is PURPLE under white/daylight light, even purple under 10K light.
Somebody is colorblind and it ain't me.
Purple

Blue

Two beautiful healthy fish. A dark blue one and a light blue one hehe

I happen to have a hippo tang, he’s quite cheeky too. He’s just a lighter blue than my dark blue purple tang.

 

[Jase4224]

Well I am a career pilot and had to pass color test every year for 40 years.……and yes, I passed them all. That fish picture is navy blue, not purple.

Scientific proof!!!!!!!!!