The mesophotic reefs of Indonesia are a realm of perpetual twilight, but from these dim waters comes a new species of dottyback that shines brightly—Pseudochromis stellatus. Described in the latest edition of Zootaxa by dottyback authority Anthony Gill and the...
We’re living in a golden age of fairy wrasse discoveries. In the past few years, we’ve seen the scientific description of several new species—C. isosceles, C. efatensis, C. africanus & C. rubeus. And there are still many more waiting to be studied and named, like...
Earlier this summer, researchers from the Auckland Museum and Conservation International completed a six-week expedition to some of the planet’s most remote and obscure reef systems. Several stops on their itinerary—Walpole Island, Minerva Reef, ʻAta—are entirely uninhabited and, consequently, their marinelife is almost entirely unknown.…
Slowly but surely, the undescribed butterflyfishes of the world are at long last getting the recognition they deserve. Last year, it was the Orangemargin Butterflyfish (Prognathodes basabei) that was given a proper scientific name after decades of anonymity, and the...
A recent expedition to some of the most remote reefs in the South Pacific has yielded an especially exciting discovery for surgeonfish fans. Earlier this summer, biologists from Conservation International and the Auckland Museum set sail on a six-week journey into the...
New species of gobies show up all the time, but a new species of Stonogobiops shrimpgoby is not something that we would have expected. The genus is small, with just seven species, and most of its members are well-known to aquarists and divers alike.…
The Ballina Angelfish (Chaetodontoplus ballinae) is among the rarest pomacanthids on the planet and one of the last true “book fishes” in the family. It’s presently known from just two subtropical reef systems—Ballina, New South Wales (after which it is named) and Lord Howe Island, an isolated speck of land in the middle of the Coral Sea that’s renowned for its highly endemic fauna.…
Aquarist Wang Junmin has succeeded in creating what has to be one of the most unusual aquarium concepts ever attempted, as well as one of the least-sustainable. Eight anemonefishes enter, only one will leave…this is the Amphiprion Battle Royale!…
Don’t get me wrong, Giant Squid are quite impressive and Vampire Squid are certainly not without their charm, but I would have to posit that the Pygmy Squids (Idiosepius spp.) are the strangest of all squidkind.…
At first glance, this curious specimen looks quite a bit like the Powder Blue X Goldrim Tang hybrids that show up regularly from places like Christmas Island and Bali, but, despite its faintly blue coloration and bright orange fins, we can be reasonably sure that this...