They do turn yellow as they age and turn female, what I think it is is that all yellows are female but not all blues are male, hard to say
Interesting! Just when we think we have it all figured out...
I'm still waiting to see if my female turns blue, or begins to regain the yellow color. She was a very odd case. When I got her, she wasn't solid yellow, but you could see she was a juvi. She was under 30" in length and grew very quickly over a month time span.
from what I've experienced, the color changes, especially the flashing back to black is caused by stress/confusion in the adaptation to captivityI'm still waiting to see if my female turns blue, or begins to regain the yellow color. She was a very odd case. When I got her, she wasn't solid yellow, but you could see she was a juvi. She was under 30" in length and grew very quickly over a month time span.
Once added to quarantine, she began to turn banana yellow. After I added her to the reef tank, she started to turn black. I am not sure if it was the lights that provoked the colors, or not.
First day I got her,
July 06 2022
A few days after adding to reef tank. July 22 2022 if I remember right.
Shes been with me for 7 months. The stress should be over
right, like many animals, eels darken up when stressed/scared/confused.. it sucks because their adult colors are so pretty
I still love her, regardless. There is an old report of an aquarium attempting to breed them, but none of them morphed into adult colors. A lot of fish in captivity as juveniles keep those colors as they become adults. We don't mimic nature well.
right! the solid black is very pretty as well. just not so much a fan of the in-between phase
