i cannot believe my luck.
this is only one of the few handful of female naoko's fairy wrasse in the world. the females are, for some reason, always never caught and are exceptionally rare in the trade. in fact, naoko fairy wrasse was described by tanaka and allen with only the male specimens. the females were only caught after the description.
naoko fairy belongs to the "rubriventralis complex" of fairy wrasses. all of the species within the complex have large pelvic fins and long dorsal fin filaments.
the females all look almost 100% identical, being all red with a few horizontal blue stripes.
but the females of naoko are abit easier to differentiate.
1) naoko is found only in the pacific ocean, while the rest of the rubriventralis species occur mainly in the indian ocean
2) female naoko only have 2 horizontal blue stripe vs 2-3 in females of other species in this complex
3) the slight tinge of black on the pelvic fins indicate either naoko or joanallenae. these 2 are the only species to have black ventral fins. but joanallenae is even rarer and found in the indian ocean.
therefore, this is a female naoko's fairy.
i'm so happy and excited.
as a homage to Dr. tanaka, i'll send the photos to him via e-mail. he co-described this species and named it after his wife. the females are so rare he's not even seen them before