Blue-Spotted Jawfish Now Captive-Bred in Tropical Conditions
Dutch wholesaler and aquaculture centre De Jong has successfully spawned and raised the Blue-spotted Jawfish, Opistognathus rosenblatti for the first time. Bluespotted jawfish are popular with reef aquarium enthusiasts because of their stunning colouration and markings, but they are expensive, they require a deep substrate, they’re prone to jumping, and wild-collected fish require cooler temperatures as they originate from the Gulf of California.
The first three predilections are unlikely to change with captive breeding – in fact captive bred fish are often more expensive than their wild-collected counterparts, but De Jong has answered the eternal question on temperature while commenting on their Facebook page.
De Jong’s Tom Verhoeven heads up the aquaculture facility and breeding efforts and says, “We keep them tropical all year round, with temperatures sometimes reaching up to 28 degrees. It’s important to maintain them cooler during quarantine.” While De Jong owner Arie De Jong said: “Yes we keep and bred them on 25 degrees.” So for me, it’s a double breakthrough.
News of the breeding success broke on the 29th of January 2025, although we saw and were told about the breeding success in November 2024 when we toured De Jong’s state-of-the-art breeding facility.
Fishbase says that Blue-spotted Jawfish grow to 10cm and: “Found in large colonies. Feeds on benthic and planktonic invertebrates. Covers its burrow entrance at dusk and rebuilds the opening each morning.”
So not only do I now want a captive-bred, tropical tolerant blue-spotted jawfish. I want a pair!
Image credits Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
