Fish x Black Pearl

Fish x Black Pearl is a modern ornamental Capsicum annuum hybrid combining Fish Pepper with Black Pearl. It was listed by Matt’s Peppers as a 2024 release. The cross brings together the striped, variegated Fish Pepper background with the dark foliage and small marble-like fruit of Black Pearl. In the described outcome for the line, the fruit was grape-sized, slightly conical, and ripened from purple to deep apple red.

The plant is primarily notable for its foliage and fruit colour. Fish Pepper contributes strong variegation, traditionally showing mottled green and white leaves, while Black Pearl contributes dark purple to near-black foliage and dark ornamental fruit. The resulting hybrid can show mixed ornamental expression: variegated foliage with darker purple tones, compact annuum growth, and small pods that carry the decorative colour transition from purple into red.

The fruit is small, around grape-sized, slightly conical, and ornamental in appearance. Pods are much smaller and rounder than classic Fish Pepper fruit, with more influence from the Black Pearl side in size and colour. The mature colour is deep apple red, while the immature display is purple rather than the cream-white and green striping usually associated with Fish Pepper. This makes the cross more of a dark ornamental fruiting type than a traditional striped culinary Fish Pepper form.

Its background gives the plant a strong visual story. Fish Pepper is an old Chesapeake-region African-American heirloom associated with variegated foliage, striped fruit, and use in fish and shellfish cookery, while Black Pearl is a modern ornamental pepper recognised for black foliage, round black fruit, and red ripe fruit. Fish x Black Pearl uses those two lines for a compact, decorative annuum with small purple-to-red pods and variegated dark foliage, making it valuable mainly as a visually distinctive chilli plant with edible hot fruit.