7,  True), (8, False)]],
      dtype=[('_data', '<i8'), ('_mask', '?')])
>>> x2 = np.ma.fromflex(rec)
>>> x2
masked_array(
  data=[[0, --, 2],
        [--, 4, --],
        [6, --, 8]],
  mask=[[False,  True, False],
        [ True, False,  True],
        [False,  True, False]],
  fill_value=999999)

Extra fields can be present in the structured array but are discarded:

>>> dt = [('_data', '<i4'), ('_mask', '|b1'), ('field3', '<f4')]
>>> rec2 = np.zeros((2, 2), dtype=dt)
>>> rec2
array([[(0, False, 0.), (0, False, 0.)],
       [(0, False, 0.), (0, False, 0.)]],
      dtype=[('_data', '<i4'), ('_mask', '?'), ('field3', '<f4')])
>>> y = np.ma.fromflex(rec2)
>>> y
masked_array(
  data=[[0, 0],
        [0, 0]],
  mask=[[False, False],
        [False, False]],
  fill_value=np.int64(999999),
  dtype=int32)

rg