Joe Rowlett
  • Joe Rowlett

    Joe is classically trained in the zoological arts and sciences, with a particular focus on the esoterica of invertebrate taxonomy and evolution. He’s written for several aquarium publications and for many years lorded over the marinelife at Chicago’s venerable Old Town Aquarium. He currently studies prairie insect ecology at the Field Museum of Natural History and fish phylogenetics at the University of Chicago.

Recent Content

Monday Archives: Austrolethops – a Naked, Vegetarian Reef Goby

Monday Archives: Austrolethops – a Naked, Vegetarian Reef Goby

  Of the roughly 1,100 species in the Family Gobiidae, there may be none stranger than Austrolethops wardi, a bizarrely shaped fish with even more-bizarre habits. Pale, wrinkled, and nearly blind, this curious fish lives a reclusive life in tropical marine...

Monday Archives: A Mysterious, Undescribed Clownfish From Chagos

Monday Archives: A Mysterious, Undescribed Clownfish From Chagos

https://youtu.be/_EVcLhdX_ak The Chagos Archipelago is comprised of a small isolated group of coral atolls located to the south of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and is home to the world’s largest protected marine reserve. A curious blend of species occurs here,...

Monday Archives: The Beautiful & Rare Darwin Jawfish

Monday Archives: The Beautiful & Rare Darwin Jawfish

There are only a handful of jawfishes that seem to be regularly collected for aquarists (Yellowheads and Bluespots... Duskys and Gold Specs... the occasional Chinstrap), but the genus Opistognathus, to which nearly every jawfish belongs, is enormous, currently...