Back in late February, we stumbled across and subsequently shared a video of a gorgeous reef tank featuring massive corals and multiple high end fish. Of the super rare collection of fish was a small Masked angelfish (Genicanthus personatus), which was tiny compared to the wrought iron butterfly, goldflake angel and bandit angels it has to share swimming space with. The masked angel surprisingly wasn’t the focus of the first video, but in this new video (seen above), the $10K Hawaiian endemic gets quite a bit more of the spotlight. And from what we can see, the once tiny angel is really growing up. In roughly three months time, the angel has grown a few inches and doesn’t appear near as timid as it previously did. The video comes from Japanese hobbyist “personatus2010″, who obviously has more invested in his fish collection than most have in their cars.
As for the natural habitat of the masked angel, it’s only found in Hawiian waters, though rumors persist that individuals have been spotted a little farther west in the Midway Islands. The personatus angel is found in deep waters, up to 575 feet deep. This means that collectors must take extra precaution and use plenty of extra equipment when collecting. This includes rebreathers and lots of time decompressing on the way back to the surface. For these reasons, G. personatus is a super rare fish and has a hefty price tag to match.
