The small, isolated reefs of Christmas Island and the Cocos-Keeling Islands are uniquely situated in the Indo-Pacific, allowing for an intermixing of species that occurs nowhere else. This rampant hybridization is exemplified by the Cocopeel Angelfish, a bright yellow Centropyge endemic to these waters.…
Chelidoperca tosaensis is the newest fish to be described from Japan, but what exactly is it? This isn’t such an easy question to answer, as we’ll soon see. The obscure little genus to which it belongs now consists of ten species spread across the Indo-Pacific, all of which are restricted to fairly deep waters (50-300 meters).…
The corals found along the eastern coastline of the United States are among the best studied in the world, making it one of the least likely places to discover a new species. But this is precisely where a brightly colored coral has just been found, and, since it’s 2017 and the worship of celebrities infiltrates literally everything, this exciting new find has been named after the daughter of Beyonce and Jay-Z… because of course it would be.…
Earlier this year, a beautiful new species of anthias was described in what can only be described as an incredibly obscure scientific journal, and, as tends to happen in these instances, this discovery is only now getting noticed. It was found in the deep waters (180...
In 1909, the USS Albatross was midway through a research expedition in the Philippines when it stumbled upon a strange new species of frogfish. A single specimen was hauled up in a trawl from 82 meters deep along a bottom of coral sand, and, three years later, this fish would be formally described as Antennarius subteres.…
Earlier this year, I wrote at length about a colorful new species of dartfish which was collected from the Philippines for the aquarium trade, and, just a few months later, it now has a proper scientific name.…
There’s a famous quote attributed to the great British geneticist J.B.S. Haldane. When asked by a theologian about his thoughts concerning the nature of god, he pithily retorted that the creator must have “an inordinate fondness for beetles”. You could easily make the...
The phenomenal Twilight Zone: Deep Reefs Revealed exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences is legendary among aquarists for all the rare marinelife it has on display. There’s nowhere else that you’ll find Roa rumsfeldi, Sacura speciosa and Lyrocteis...
I’ll never forget the night when the first blurry images of a newly discovered Cirrhilabrus emerged. That was back in August 2016, and it only took a moment before I knew what I was looking at. The short pelvic fins, the bulky body, the unpatterned colors… someone had...
Back in March, I wrote at length about an undescribed species of anthias from the Mariana Arc which boasts some top notch colors. The Cave Anthias, though still uncollected for the aquarium trade, has been known to Japanese divers for at least the past two decades,...