Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
The emperor angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator) is one of the many species of marine angelfish inhabiting reefs in the Indo-Pacific region. While not the largest, they aren’t the smallest angelfish by any means, reaching up to 40 cm in the largest specimens. They’re well known for their striking colorations of a yellow main body with blue stripes and a yellowish to sometimes orange tail on adults. Juveniles, however, are a different colour scheme with a blue and white circular patterning that helps distinguish them from the territorial adults. They prey on sponges, corals, and other bentic invertebrates and both age groups act as cleaner fish. These fish are common in the aquarium trade and are not in danger of extinction and thus, are listed as ‘Least Concern’ by the IUCN.
About the figures: The adult and juvenile are both assembled on a sandy base, with the juvenile attached to a rocky outcrop. The adult measures 6.5 cm and the juvenile measures a measly 2.5 cm, putting them at the 1:6 scale; however, a smaller scale is more ideal as juveniles start changing their colours to match adults at about 12.5 cm.
Taking a look at the juvenile, it’s a very simple but effective figure. It is sculpted in a simple static pose and there’s not much sculptural details like the hook on the gill flap and the fin rays, due to the small size. The figure has notably rounder fins compared to the adult and the colour scheme is what is expected from a juvenile: a deep blue with white lines and lighter blue lines in between them. The caudal fin is translucent. Not much to say except kudos for Colorata for an intricately done little figure and it’s perfect in my eyes.
On to the adult. It’s one of the most striking figure of the Coral Reef Box set. It’s sculpted in a very slight curve and it’s painted with a yellow main body and tail, with a black mask on the face area, black around the gill cover and the anal fin. Cyan blue stripes highlight the mask, through the torso area, and on the anal fin, with yellow streaks on the pelvic fins. The mouth area is a light grey and there’s a white outline on the dorsal fin edge. The pectoral fin is casted in a transparent plastic. The outline is unmistakably an adult Emperor angelfish with a hook on the lower gill flap, which is a trade mark for marine angelfish, and there’s a streamer on the dorsal fin, indicating itis a more mature individual. There are two faults I can see with the figure. One is that the pectoral fins should be bigger and a translucent black colour. The other is the size of the adult; despite being around the same size or smaller than a clown triggerfish, it is gigantic in the set for some reason, second only to the Napoleon wrasse in the set. This makes it out of scale with a lot of gashapon fish figures and making close to the same size range as the Papo blue tang and Moorish idol.
All in all, I think this, along with the boxfish and the goby/shrimp pair, are some of the best in the Colorata Coral Reef Fish set, even though the quality suffers compared to other tropical fish figures from Kaiyodo and Yujin (it’s also an older set). I still think this display highlights the differences between an adult and juvenile specimens, which have a very different physical traits. Fortunately, the set is still in production but getting it has proven to be expensive, especially if you’re only after specific figures and the clownfish and the Napoleon wrasse are on the weaker side with better options to go for. The set is available on second-hand sites like Mercari or Yahoo Auctions but if you have an associate in Japan, you may be able to purchase directly from Colorata themselves. Additionally, there’s also the very rare Kaiyodo emperor angelfish, which is smaller and a perfect representation of the species, but is much more expensive.
