Pseudojuloides

[Joe_P]

Hi Guys,

Please help in the ID of this Pencil Wrasse.

From my search , the closest I could get is Pseudojuloides mesostigma

Any other opinions?

[Joe_P]

Another pic.

[Digiman]

The black bar in the middle hint of a mesostigma. Rare fish!

[Joe_P]

The black bar in the middle hint of a mesostigma. Rare fish!

Thats what I thought. but this specimen looks terrible once you look at all the pictures that show up when you google "Pseudojuloides mesostigma"

[Digiman]

Thats what I thought. but this specimen looks terrible once you look at all the pictures that show up when you google "Pseudojuloides mesostigma"

All the pics on the net are those taken from the wild. In captivity and especially when the fish is stressed out like your one, the colours will never be as vibrant as those in the wild.

From the pic i can see the fish has some green yellow and a black tail, together with a black bar in the middle i would guess a mesostigma as well.

[yikai]

yes! oh wow! P. mesostigma!

Outrageous! it's my dream pencil wrasse and i've been waiting for it for terribly long and have been stalking ahbeng's philippine shipment for so long! can be found from cebu but very very rare. it is one of the deeper water pencil wrasses compared to other species like P. severnsi and P. cerasinus. Not much is known about mesostigma in captivity because not many people keep it before.

it's showing stress colouration which is very common for them.

unfortunately survival rate for Pseudojuloides are extremely low. yours will most probably not survive. if it does survive, it will make a good story for either glassbox design or reef builders.

do provide better photos when it does stabalise.

pseudojuloides is a very unpopular genus. but mesostigma is considered by rare wrasse enthusiast like me to be "holy grail" of the genus. other holy grail pencil wrasse includes P. erythrops, atavai, xanthomos, and cf elongatus!