This unusual pygmy angelfish comes courtesy of Quality Marine and was sourced from Fiji… but what is it?
Your first guess might be the endemic Blue Velvet Angelfish (Centropyge deborae).…
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 Blog Posts
Monday Archives: Protanguilla, The Primitive Cave Eel of Palau
https://youtu.be/KMe3PRkRRCI In 2009, Japanese researcher Jiro Sakaue of the Southern Marine Laboratory made a sensational ichthyological discovery, arguably the single most important find since the coelacanth was first hauled up some 70 years ago. While exploring...
Monday Archives: Dascyllus strasburgi – Ghost of the Marquesas
There are few reef fishes quite so maligned among aquarists as Dascyllus, the Humbug Damselfishes. Because of their argumentative nature, this ubiquitous group is rarely seen in today’s reef tanks, despite being attractively patterned and almost indesctructibly...
Monday Archives: Behold, The First Images Of A Live Ruby Seadragon!
Seadragons are among the most bizarre and charismatic of marine creatures, relying on their impeccable camouflage to perfectly blend into the algae-filled reefs they call home. They were first collected in the 19th century off the southern coast of Australia, and, in...
Monday Archives: Bubble Vision Is Back With Some Amazing Reef Macrophotography
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-noK9UVWTk The nature documentaries of Nick Hope (AKA Bubble Vision) are some of the finest ever made on coral reef ecosystems and should be considered mandatory viewing for anyone with a serious interest in the subject. His...
Monday Archives: Completely New Type Of Organism Discovered Living On Brain Coral
Ancoracysta twisti is very small, consisting of just a single cell 14 μm in length, but it’s discovery is proving to be quite large. This newly described species was found living upon an unidentified brain coral at the Birch Aquarium after researchers sampled its...
Monday Archives: Fluorescent Fairy Wrasses
In the ocean, longer wavelengths of light (i.e. red) are quickly filtered out, so that with increasing depth the red pigmentation of marine life takes on increasingly inky tones. This provides excellent camouflage in the darkness and is why so many deeper-water...
Monday Archives: Hybrid Butterflyfishes From the Philippines
A couple interesting butterflyfish hybrids have turned up in the Philippines, giving us the opportunity to guess the parentage behind these strange genetic amalgamations. You might want to take a moment to...
Monday Archives: Blue-eyes (Pseudomugil) Are A Perfect Reef-safe Nano Fish
One of the biggest frustrations with keeping smaller reef aquariums, particularly those under five gallons, is in finding fish species that are suitable for such tight accommodations. Despite the vast biodiversity of coral reef ecosystems, surprisingly little of this...
Monday Archives: An Ode to the Beautiful Blennies of Cirripectes
Blennies are a diverse lot, with some 400+ species scattered across several dozen genera, but, out of all this taxonomic richness, only a small number of these fishes commonly find their way into aquarium exports. The two most diverse genera, Ecsenius &...