Cirrhilabrus wakanda is the newest beautiful species of fairy wrasse from the east coast of Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa. How much we love to keep fairy wrasses in our saltwater tanks this one is from the mesophotic coral reefs at a depth of 50 to 80 m. The wrasse is very colorful with red, purple, yellow all over its body. The new species was collected using hand nets while diving on a mixed-gas, closed-circuit rebreather.
Cirrhilabrus wakanda, in situ photographs at 75 m depth, in the east coast of Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa. (A), transitioning males (B), and females (C). Photographs by L.A. Rocha.
The name is inspired from the movie Black Panther and is a fictional East African nation of Wakanda home of super hero, which in terms to the new species is regarded to stay hidden from the world for such a long time. The new species in comparison to other Cirrhilabrus ( C. blatteus, C. sanguineus and C. rubrisquamis)
(A) Cirrhilabrus wakanda sp. nov., in situ photograph from the east coast of Zanzibar, Africa (B) Cirrhilabrus blatteus, in situ photograph from the Red Sea, off the coast of Eilat, (C) Cirrhilabrus sanguineus, aquarium photograph of a specimen from Mauritius (D) Cirrhilabrus rubrisquamis, aquarium photograph of a specimen from the Maldives. Photographs by L.A. Rocha (A); E. Brokovich (B), and Y.K. Tea (C, D)
There is so much more about the new species and the paper for in–depth read are with Zookeys.
Like always it's my day one in the hobby. Always been a hobbyist but never knew would dive so deep in the hobby. I too started with a freshwater aquarium. When I first started saltwater aquarium it just grew on me and I knew that had to do more in this hobby. I am a Post-Grad in Business Administration have worked with Coldstar Logistics, Amazon and Jindal's before jumping completely in the ocean. Other than aquarium hobby I have my interests in travel, digital games and consumer web technology.
