Lu, I certainly welcome the opinion, and in many respects years ago I shared EXACTLY THE SAME POINT OF VIEW!
But, I’ve come to learn a few things since then, not to mention there’s a few inaccuracies in your comments that perhaps, if made apparent, might change your opinion.
Some points of clarification – if you believe the theory of evolution is correct, then pretty much everything that makes me human, and my dog a dog was a genetic “mutation”. We use the term typically in a very negative fashion, but from a biological standpoint, mutations are simply “changes” in genetics…whether they are beneficial, positive mutations, or they’re negative, detrimental mutations, is a secondary consideration.
My anti-designer-clownfish stance had a lot to do with fish like these displacing the wild natural forms. And that’s where it gets interesting, because this unique form was found not once, but twice so far, in the wild. This fish, for better or worse, was part of the naturally occurring diversity in Papua New Guinea. We’ve been told there are yet more out there. So too…Picasso Percs…originated at the start from one wild-collected abberant Percula, but since that time, other wild Picassos have been discovered. So some of these “designer” clownfish are in fact, mother nature’s doing…they’re not even mutations or variants that originated in captivity. I find this particularly interesting, because there are certain polymorphic fish species where we’ve taken forms that are rare in the wild, and through selective breeding made them more commonplace. No one gripes about the male Red Zebra Cichlid or the Orange Bloctch variant being abominations..nor should they…as both are part of the natural population diversity of the species. This revelation, as it pertained to fish like the Picasso Perc, was an eye opener, and was one of the first things that caused me to rethink the issues and views surrounding designer fish. There are OTHER revelations as well, but I’ll get into that only if you want me to.
As a far as the “cute name”, I never came up with “Lightning” Maroon Clownfish. While I can’t say for certain whether Jake Adams is responsible for the creation of the name, he IS probably the one responsible for etching it into the accepted vernacular used to describe this form with his publication in 2008 – http://reefbuilders.com/2008/09/21/wicked-maroon-clownfish-emerges-from-the-png/
Now, whether you like the looks of the fish or not is entirely subjective. What I find most intriguing is that the “Lightning” patterning appears to be a very unique way for “stripes” to form and mature. Most of the genetic stripe variations we know of come on strong and are pretty well set at an early age. For “lightning”, it shows itself almost instantly in the offspring, which is not unlike Platinum and presumably Wyoming White. At first, we thought that maybe the fish would be solid white, and that we weren’t going to see duplication of the pattern in the offspring, but just some “picasso-ish” maroon clowns. A year in, it’s starting to look pretty clear that the formation of the Lightning pattern of stripes may well be a multi-year affair, going from solid white to the first little speckles to tons of spotting to the spots growing and the balance of white vs. red shifting until you arrive at a fish that looks like their wild-caught mother. I honestly cannot think of any other clownfish that will show such an incredible transformation over the course of several years. I find this revelation simply incomprehensible…I don’t think anyone could have thought that THIS was the way that the wild fish wound up looking like it looks today. I hope in the years ahead this is heavily studied by someone in the scientific community…I would gladly facilitate their research.
As far as a ridiculous price, here’s the interesting part, there’s no price set, anywhere. I know what I paid for the wild fish, and we’ve speculated what another wild fish might be worth, but that’s the extent of it. Meanwhile, I’ve yet to make any profit for my efforts, and quite frankly, in totality, it’s very possible that the net project could wind up being a financial loss. Meanwhile, I’ve documented elsewhere in this website my gifts of two pairs of these fish to fellow hobbyists, and more fish are being destined to be given away, for free, to help preserve / back-up, this very unique naturally-occurring variation. In fact, I’ve set NO PRICE for these fish; at this time, most are destined to be sold at auction, so it is only the BUYERS who will decide what the market price is for these fish -> https://lightning-maroon-clownfish.com/?p=2197
Success was revelation that there is likely a genetic component. Success was the successful reproduction of the trait in the offspring, which we assume helps reduce the likelihood that it will be lost to the hobby/trade/planet.
Selling some of them at auction sure is capitalism, although I’d argue it’s the most fair method possible to determine what these fish are actually worth.
It’s illegal to clone humans for the most part…
Thanks for the comments Lu – I always appreciate being challenged on a topic – perhaps my responses were interesting, changed your views a bit, or even have caused you to have new questions and criticisms. I for one welcome them.