Koran X Emperor hybrid

[yikai]

Hello people,

with the help of Digiman and friends, i've obtained this interesting Pomacanthid fish. We believe that it might be a hybrid between Koran and Emperor.

P. semicirculatus X P. imperator.

The main thing that strikes all of us is, of course, the large completed circle near the tail. Only the juveniles of emperor angels carry that ring and no other juvenile angel have that colouration.

Pure korans however, at times, may develop a complete ring near the tail area but usually only on one side, rarely both.

this specimen has complete rings on both side.

not only that, the dorsal and anal fins do not look "koran-ish". the stripe pattern and the tail is unlike korans, which should have more stripes and a darker tail at this stage of it's life.

at the end of the day it's difficult to explain but just by appearance, i have a hunch it might be a "hybrid"

what's your take?

[peacemaker]

Beautiful... nice catch once again!

[yikai]

here's a pic of juvenile koran and one of juvenile emperor.

the fish i posted above doesn't look like koran nor an emperor.

[yikai]

Beautiful... nice catch once again!

thanks but at this stage i really do not know if it's a hybrid or not.

it's definitely not a juvenile emperor so we can rule that out.

it's either a pure koran, or a koran x emperor.

i've posted on RC and hopefully some more knowledgable people can chime in.

here's one from my friend in thailand.

my fish looks just like this and it's also a "weird koran".

[Ketchup]

I also think it looks more like a koran than emperor. In any case, it's a very healthy and unique specimen

[Digiman]

It's a hybrid!!!

Well i'm 80% sure it's a hybrid. But the emperor traits may be too minimal to show in adulthood and even it's a hybrid look totally koran.

There's no adult pic of koran x emperor on the net.

So only time will tell wat the fish will turn into.

[yikai]

the face is extremely koran and the back, although looks like an emperor, could be a koran too.

the only way is to wait for it to grow bigger. don't have to wait for it to grow into an adult, just slightly bigger.

koran angels have opaque tails and in about 1 or 1.5 inch more, the tail should start becoming solid with no clear areas.

if by then the tail still harbors the transparent edge, it's not a koran

[Digiman]

Wat if it is a normal koran?

Donate to the Iwarna pond?

[yikai]

Wat if it is a normal koran?

Donate to the Iwarna pond?

if it's a koran i'll spiral into misery.

i dislike korans very much and paying $XX for it is....

but yes the minute i know it's a pure blood koran i'm removing it and giving it a better life. anywhere except my tank!

[peacemaker]

Too bad it isn't a dwarf angel, otherwise I'll take it if you don't want it. Some really look nicer when they are juveniles.

[yikai]

Yap.

I only want it if it's either a pure blood emperor or a hybrid. If it turns out to b a Koran I'm really not quite interested.

I know how to differentiate all of them but this one had me stumped