If you’ve ever had a reef aquarium, then you’ve almost certainly purchased a snail or two to control nuisance algal growth. But which one to get? The possibilities are endless… Turbo or Tectus or Trochus or Tegula?…
Joe Rowlett
Recent Content
Chromis torquata, A Distinctive New Damselfish From Mauritius
With its piercing orange eyes and a bold “collar” behind the head, the newly described Chromis torquata is a relatively easy fish to identify, which makes its a bit surprising that it took so long to get recognized.…
Chromis katoi, Japan’s Newest Damselfish Is Bright Yellow
The subtropical reef fauna of Japan is filled with a number of splendiferous species which typically command a hefty price in the aquarium world… Centropyge interrupta, Chaetodon daedalma, Cirrhilabrus lanceolatus, Tosanoides flavofasciatus.…
Poma Labs Introduces The World’s First Longfin Angelfish… And It’s A “Bluespicuous” Hybrid!
What you’re looking at here is arguably the single rarest fish to ever grace an aquarium.
This juvenile angelfish comes courtesy of Dr. Matt Wittenrich of Poma Labs, and it marks an important innovation in the breeding of marine fishes.…
How? Why? This Giant Clam Bleached On Just One Side
During the El Nino event 2015, unusually warm waters (31–32 °C) in Tetiaroa Atoll, French Polynesia caused many corals to bleach, along with half of this Giant Clam (Tridacna maxima).
As reported in the journal Coral Reefs, this was the only bleached specimen discovered among the T.…
Paraechinophyllia variabilis, A Confusing New Species Of Chalice Coral
“Speciation is not always accompanied by morphological change, and the identification of cryptic taxa has challenged taxonomists and naturalists since the 18th century.”
These are the ominous words that appear in a challenging new study of chalice corals.…
Enneapterygius velatus, Japan’s Flamboyant New Mesophotic Triplefin
Triplefins are one of the major cryptobenthic fish groups of coral reefs, with more than 180 recognized species scattered across the world’s shallow tropical and subtropical marine habitats. The most diverse of these blenny-like fishes are the 64 members of Enneapterygius, which can be found all across Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea to Hawaii and Pitcairn.…
First Hybrids Of The Zebra Tang & Convict Tang
Hybrid tangs and surgeonfishes are a relatively common sight, particularly in the aquarium trade, where such anomalies typically fetch a premium. More than a dozen different interspecies crosses have been documented.…
Istigobius murdyi, The First Sandgoby From Mesophotic Reefs
Istigobius is a small genus of mid-sized and rather drably colored gobies whose ten known species can be found scattered across the Indo-Pacific. They are most often found on shallow sand and silt bottoms, often in association with brackish estuaries, but this isn’t the case for a new species described in the latest edition of the Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation.…
Invasive Blue Xenia Is Spreading Quickly In Brazil!!!
Back in May, I reported on the discovery of a large population of Blue Xenia (Sansibia) which had become established in the rocky reefs near Rio de Janeiro. These were found alongside another invasive species, Clove Polyps (Clavularia), which likely indicates that these two corals originated from an aquarist foolishly releasing them into the ocean.…