If someone tells you, hey - I got some new anthias - your next question is likely to
be what kind?
Without knowing specifically the species, it’s hard to envision the fish or even to
offer some suggestions about care.
Anthias is a very generic term, and so it's important to know what we’re actually talking
about by using at least the common name… or better yet the proper species name - after
all, common names can be reused and different depending on the part of the world you’re
in.
That said, even actual honest to goodness scientific taxonomy can be a messy place.
As we learn new things about the world and gain new tricks like x-rays and genetics,
we go back and reorganize animals into better, more thought-through groups.
In the future, they’ll be regorganized yet again - it’s part of how science works - building
on the work of others that came before.
Hi guys and girls, I’m ReefMan, and today we’re talking about newly published research
reorganizing the taxonomy of some of our hobby’s favorite reef tank fish - the Anthias!
If you’re interested in a lot of nitty gritty details you can check out the paper by Anthony
Gill of the University of Sydney, which I’ve linked down in the description.
Anthias are all included in the subfamily Anthiadinae, and that includes over 220 species
of fish from tropical waters across the globe.
Under that subfamily, you’ve probably heard of the genus Pseudanthias described way back
in 1871.
That’s what we, somewhat incorrectly, refer to when we talk generically about Antihas.
Our fish stores often use it interchangeably as the genus for almost all of our aquarium
anthias.
That’s been a problem in the past, but with this new research it’s even more of a problem
as some people will use the new names, others the old, and search results on forums like
Reef2Reef will become fragmented.
Hopefully we can change that though, and today we’ll go through at least some of the reorganization
that’s been going on.
We’ll go over two reworked genera - Mirolabrichthys and Nemanthias - and we’ll introduce a new
genus called Pyronotanthias.
We’ll also learn a lot about anthias and fish morphology more generally along the way.
This data is hot off the presses, only published in Zootaxa on January 18th of 2022 so we’ll
have to work on spreading the news to get vendors and websites updated.
Ok, so Mirolabrichthys.
This was originally defined as a subgenus under Pseudanthias, but with this new work
is elevated to its own genus.
In doing so, this genus was reduced to include only three species - M. tuka, M. pascalus,
and my personal favorite of all the anthias, M. evansi which you’re seeing throughout
this video.
I recently bought a group of six of these incredible fish, and I’ve been busy feeding
them small amounts of all sorts of foods every couple hours.
The fish in Mirolabrichthys have extra scales, called auxiliary scales, over most of their
body.
That, along with their distinctive dorsal fin shape identifies them from other genera.
If we look at a photo of one of these fish, you can see that their dorsal fin is longer
the further back it gets, specifically between the 4th to 10th spines.
This is most obvious on adult males, and my tank has only females at this point, so it’s
harder to see in the videos I’m showing.
Another tool you can use to identify male anthias, particularly in the Mirolabrichthys
genus, is that the front of their upper lip often extends beyond their mouth, almost making
it look like they’ve got a beak of sorts.
Females of the same species will not have this feature, and so if all else fails you
can look for this.
I don’t think this feature is exclusive to the Mirolabrichthus anthias, so keep that
in mind when looking at Anthias more generally.
That brings us to Nemanthias.
This is a genus of anthias that is easily distinguished by a feature called out in their
common name - the Threadfin Anthias.
They get this name from the distinctive spines in the front of their dorsal fins that males
of this genus often display.
Nemanthias is now expanded to include several species you’re probably familiar with - N.
carberryi, N. bartlettorum, N. bicolor, N. dispar, N. ignitus, and N. regalis.
Nemanthias, particularly N. bartlettorum and N. bicolor are probably amongst the most commonly
kept anthias in our reef tanks - and for good reason too.
These are probably the most adaptable and easily kept of all the Anthias.
These two species would be a good place to start if you’re interested in Anthias but
not wanting to undertake the more fragile species.
Nemanthias can be identified by a dorsal fin that starts above or slightly behind the back
edge of the opercle - that’s the group of bones over and just behind a fish’s gills.
You can see it very well on my Bluespotted Angelfish.
Additionally, as I mentioned, males of this genus have those raised spines in the front
of their dorsal fins.
They also have a high number of a special kind of scale - a circum peduncle scale - which
are the scales found around the base of their tales.
Anthias from Mirolabricthys have between 25 and 28 circum peduncle scales.
Nemanthias have between 29 and 36 depending on the species.
Of all the anthias the paper gave data for, Nemanthias as a group have the highest number
of these scales.
Of course, as hobbyists, without a really good photo of one of these fish it’s nearly
impossible to count scales like this.
They’re simply too small.
And that brings us to Pyronotanthias.
This is a brand new genus with Pyronotanthias lori as the type species.
This is a genus easily identifiable with our eyes by having a red or orange stripe or blotches
below the back part of their dorsal fin.
In fact, that’s what the new genus’s name is referring to - pyro is Greek for fire,
nota is Greek for back, and of course we’re familiar with anthias.
Pyronotanthias contains species you might be familiar with, though they’re a lot less
common in the hobby as compared to some of the Nemanthias.
You may have heard of P. bimarginatus, P. flavoguttatus, or P. lori, but there are also
five additional species in this genus now.
There is much work left to be done to better organize the Anthias.
Work like we’ve been seeing done with the Fairy Wrasses, finding clades or groups of
related species.
This is ongoing, and I bet we’ll see more from the same author on this.
Clades are particularly interesting to me, as if one species is closely related to another,
usually I think that means that they probably have similar care requirements.
Though we as hobbyists cannot see it, the gill arches - the bones that are under and
that support a fish’s gills - are also different and distinctive in their structure for these
new genuses.
That could be a feature used to further organize these fish.
Despite their popularity, Anthias are very fragile fish requiring careful care and frequent
feeding.
Some of them, like N. bartlettorum are much more forgiving than others - like M. evansi.
Evansi anthias themselves are comparatively easy to care for versus even more fragile
species like M. tuka.
Others fall somewhere in between - but all need frequent feedings and take time to train
onto pellets.
They’re also hard to quarantine, and for that reason I’d recommend reaching out to
a company like Ocean Devotion to buy quarantined fish if you’re seriously interested in Anthias.
Let them do the hard part for you!
I’d also like to remind you all that Anthias have been bred in captivity.
It’s doable!
I’ll link to the video above for you, if you want to check it out.
It does take a special setup - but it would be amazing to see these fish available as
captive bred specimens sometime soon.
I hope you liked the video, if you did leave a comment and make sure you’re subscribed
to the channel for more like it.
I hope you’ve been safe, particularly to my viewers in Ukraine - there’s a few of
you - and remember to be kind to each other.
Have a fantastic day!
Bye!