One of the rarest and most enigmatic of plate corals has just been recognized as belonging to a new genus. The newly minted Sinuorota hexagonalis has been known to science since the mid-nineteenth century, but it has up until now been treated as belonging to...
The mid-18th century marks the beginning of the modern science of coral reef biology, and one of the first great researchers from this era was a young Swedish naturalist by the name of Peter Forsskål. As a student of Linnaeus—the father of zoological taxonomy—Forsskål...
The Ember Goby (Palatogobius incendius) is a spectacular new deepwater species that exudes a stunning conflagration of colors across its tiny transparent body. With its minute dimensions and vibrant colors, it would be easy to mistake this fish for a freshwater tetra...
The early eighteenth century roughly marks the starting point for the science of coral reef biology, and a key figure from this period was a Dutch apothecary named Albertus Seba. Unlike other notable biologists of his day, Seba was an amateur, and his study of marine...
The Hawaiian Freckled Frogfish (Antennatus drombus) is a little-known species steeped in mystery. While it's been known for more than a century, specimens are rarely encountered in the wild and are even less common in captivity. In fact, in researching this species, I...
An exciting new species of leather coral was just scientifically described form the Red Sea, and it’s turning out to be unlike anything previously known from this diverse and popular group. Sinularia mesophotica was discovered inhabiting deep reefs in the Red Sea,...
It’s been a busy week for fans of tiny, little gobies. The two largest genera, Trimma and Eviota, each had some new species added to their ranks, bringing their total number of taxa to 100 and 108 species, respectively. It’s official... there are now way too many of...
Bernard Germain de Lacépède is one of the true founding fathers of ichthyology, and his magnum opus, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons (Natural History of Fishes), is arguably the first great work to discuss and illustrate coral reef fishes. In this five volume...
The newly described Alelia's Damselfish (Altrichthys alelia) is an unrepentantly bizarre species, with a mode of reproduction that you’d be more likely to encounter among freshwater cichlids than in your typical coral reef fish. Rather than allowing its larvae to...
An interesting new species of reef-dwelling goby has just been described, Psammogobius pisinnus. Now, usually small, brown gobies aren’t cause for excitement, but this one is a bit different, as it belongs to an obscure group that is normally not found anywhere near...