Given how many dangerous creatures are readily available in the aquarium industry, it’s easy to think that aquarists might have a tendency towards masochism. There are potentially lethal corals (Palythoa cf toxica)... there are potentially lethal urchins… there are...
The cerasinus Group This group exemplifies the difficulties inherent to delimiting “species” of reef fishes. Currently, five are officially recognized, with several more distinctive populations in need of further study. There is very little overlap in their respective...
The mesostigma Group: Black-spot (mesostigma) & Lightning Pencil Wrasses (P. zeus) Two poorly studied and seldom encountered species are known in this group, both of which make rare appearances in the aquarium trade. P. mesostigma is the more well known of...
The severnsi Group: Royal (severnsi), African (edwardi), & Mauritian (erythrops) Pencil Wrasses The three described species in this group share a number of easily observable characters: 1) A black “hood” covering the anterodorsal portions of the body. 2) A...
The elongatus Group: African (argyreogaster), Japanese (cf elongatus), Western (cf elongatus) & Eastern Australian (elongatus) Seaweed Wrasses The four known variants in this group occupy widely separated parts of the globe and are unique amongst Pseudojuloides...
The slender and elegant Pseudojuloides wrasses represent some of the most colorful and sought after species in the reef aquarium hobby, but, despite their enduring popularity, the numerous described species and undescribed regional variants are poorly known fishes....
There’s something about the waters of the Pacific Northwest that seems to encourage the creation of unusually beautiful species. Centropyge interrupta… Cirrhilabrus lanceolatus… Tosanoides flavofasciatus… It’s as if the reefs of Japan are showing off to the rest of...
https://youtu.be/ejcn9eMscU4 We finally have video for one of the rarest wrasses of the Indo-Pacific, a species only discovered in the last decade and which has yet to be collected for the aquarium trade—the Nursalim Flasherwrasse (Parachelinus nursalim)....
Earlier this year I wrote a review for a popular group of damselfishes—the Chrsyiptera hemicyanea complex—that show a complicated pattern of regional speciation. At the time, several of these biogeographical variants remained scientifically undescribed, but a new...
https://youtu.be/0pqyAjix_-g It was just last week that I shared the story of the Pygmy Jawfish, an undescribed species of dwarf Opistognathus with some truly spectacular mating colors. And, wouldn't you know it, right after I posted that I happened to stumbled upon a...