The atlantic beauties of the deep.
Genus : Prognathodes
The genus Prognathodes boasts of 11 known species and 1 undescribed species. They are, P. marcellae, P. aya, P. guyanensis, P. carlhubbsi, P. dichrous, P. obliquus, P. brasiliensis, P. aculeatus, P. basabei, P. guyotensis, P. guezei and P. falcifer. The last is an undescribed species.
Out of all 12 species, only P. marcellae is available locally through African shipments. P. aya, P. guyanensis, P. brasiliensis and P. aculeatus are all available but have not reached our local market yet. All are atlantic species, and P. guyanensis is the rarest of this batch and most expensive, at over 1k.
P. falcifer, P. carlhubbsi, P. obliquus, P. basabei and P. dichrous are all unobtainable and are super rare.
The last two, P. guyotensis and P. guezei are so rare and live so deep, that no proper picture has ever been taken of them. Making their rarity so legendary that words nor pictures can describe it.
Reef safe Quality : 80%. This group of butterflies are mainly deep water species that do not see or eat much corals in the wild. They behave themselves very well in the reef tank.
Hardiness : Fortunately, they are quite hardy and will feed on mysis shrimp sooner or later. A dim tank is best for them but they can adapt to higher brighter reef quality lighting.
Only P. marcellae is available readily locally, so I will only show the photo of this. The other members are extremely beautiful and google images have plenty of images as well as photos of them all! Do take a look at this gorgeous and unique family of fish.