Unidentified bristlemouth tang, possible hybrid?

[Tripod1404]

Hi all,

I got his tang around 3-4 months ago as a blue eyed Kole tang. It didn’t look like a blue eyed tang to me, but I assumed it was stressed and thin, and so it would look like one once getting settled in.

Now 4 months later, it gained weight and grew, but it still doesn’t look like a blue eyed Kole. Its eyes aren’t blue, body shape is not elongated and it doesn’t have the two spots at the base of it’s fins.

This guy have yellow eye patches (similar to a Hawaiian Kole but much smaller), it has striped body and spotted head and very brightly colored yellow tail and dorsal fins, anal fins and pelvic fina and clear pectoral fins. The body is very pale tan color, almost white at times, except the tip of the head that is purplish brown. I cannot find any tang that fits this description. It almost looks like a hybrid of blue eyed Kole and an Indian Kole tang.

Any ideas what this tang might be.

 

[tbrown]

Two Spot?

 

[Lavey29]

Looks like a bristletooth to me

 

[Tripod1404]

Two Spot?

I think two spot (aka blue eyed kole tang) has two spots at the base of its anal and dorsal fins, near the tail, and dark blue eyes. Mine kind of looks like two spot in terms of the spotted head and stripped body, but it doesn’t have the two spots or blue eyes. Instead it has yellow patches around its eyes like the Hawaiian or Indian Kole tang, but the patches are much smaller. Anal and dorsal fins are also rather yellow towards the tail, which is unlike two spot.

 

[Tripod1404]

Another possibility I came out with is that this fish is the yellow color morph of white tail tang (Ctenochaetus flavicauda). Oddly enough, “flavicauda” means yellow tailed.

The body shape, small yellow eye patches and spot/stripe pattern of my fish looks similar, but unlike Ctenochaetus flavicauda, my fish has a yellow tail and yellow anal/dorsal fins.

 

[littlefoxx]

Blue lip bristletooth maybe. Sounds like mine, he shifts colors a lot. I attached a picture for you to compare them. Same blue lips though. Mine shifts from this darker color to a tan color a lot and has a blue face consistently.

 

[Tripod1404]

Blue lip bristletooth maybe. Sounds like mine, he shifts colors a lot. I attached a picture for you to compare them. Same blue lips though. Mine shifts from this darker color to a tan color a lot and has a blue face consistently.

Yeah the head and lip color and the spot/stripe pattern looks similar to mine. But mine also has yellow eye patches and yellow fins and tail.

 

[nereefpat]

Most in that genus are yellow as juveniles, so the yellow in the body is probably just the fish transitioning out of that.

To me, the eyes look blue. Kole, and others with yellow eyes have a solid yellow ring all around the eye.

Blue lip, cyanocheilus, is my guess too, since I don't see the two spots at the caudal base.

 

[Tripod1404]

This guy has a yellow ring around its eyes, which is what throws me off. It is not as big as a true Kole (I.e. Hawaiin Kole), but it is there. I attached a picture below. Yeah, blue lip would be a good bet if the tail&fins eventually lose their yellow.