https://youtu.be/Ic_G6njmYj0?t=4s Interspecies hybridization is an inherently fascinating biological phenomenon that can potentially offer us insight into the process of evolution and speciation on coral reefs. Aquarists have always admired such aberrant fishes for...
Mauritius, a small island located roughly between Madagascar and the Maldives in the center of the Indian Ocean, has a unique fish fauna which includes some of the rarest and most expensive species available in the aquarium trade. Paracheilinus piscilineatus......
Google’s DeepDream software is endlessly fun to play with. If you’re not already familiar, it uses something called a “convolutional neural network” to enhance patterns found in images. Allegedly, the purpose for creating this program was to better classify the...
With its bright colors, intricate patterning and elaborate fins, Paracheilinus bellae can lay strong claim to being the most beautiful of the flasherwrasses. For aquarists, this fish is also one of the most rarely seen and expensive members of its genus thanks to an...
Easily the most obscure and enigmatic members of the triggerfish family are the miniscule, misshapen creatures classified in the genus Xenobalistes. The first specimen ever found was from the stomach contents of a marlin collected in the Mariana Islands. When it was...
As best I can tell, only four specimens of Rhinecanthus abyssus have ever been documented, and none has ever been collected for the aquarium trade. This enigmatic fish is without a doubt the most rarely seen species of triggerfish... the ultimate balistid "book fish"....
https://youtu.be/YkptqtCO6ko There is, not surprisingly, little written in the aquarium literature when it comes to foram husbandry, though there doesn’t seem to be any great challenge involved, as conditions favorable to coral growth will inherently be favorable to...
Perhaps the most relevant and interesting forams for the reef aquarist are those which make use of endosymbiotic algae. In a manner that is essentially identical to that seen in zooxanthellate corals, the host foram provides their algal symbiont with nitrogen and a...
Forams deserve far more respect and appreciation than they receive. Not only do they represent one of the most important and successful lineages in the ocean, but also one of the most aesthetically appealing, with many species possessing a sculptural beauty rivaling...
The coral reefs of Hawaii are some of the most thoroughly explored and surveyed in the world, which makes it all the more surprising that a recent trip to Kure Atoll, at the northern tip of the archipelago, revealed the presence of three undescribed species. The NOAA...