The coral reef fauna of Brazil is home to many endemic fish species, most of which find their closest relatives further north in the Caribbean. A classic example occurs with the Royal Gramma (G.…
Joe Rowlett
Recent Content
Histiophryne narungga, A Cute New Frogfish From South Australia
Just in time for Halloween, there’s a brand new species of frogfish which sports a very convincing sponge costume. Described in the journal Copeia, the Narungga Frogfish is the latest addition to the bizarre and fascinating genus Histiophryne.…
Hana, An Unusual New Genus of Stoloniferous Flower Polyps
Stoloniferous corals are a poorly understood group that aquarists should be well familiar with, even if the name itself seems a bit foreign. Clove Polyps (Clavularia) and Daisy Polyps (Knopia) are two of the best known examples.…
Tiny New Fishes: Priolepis billbrooksi, Gobiopsis jackbrooksi, Tomiyamichthys stuarti, Eviota maculosa, Helcogramma melanolancea
The past few weeks have been a busy time for the taxonomy of itty bitty reef fishes. Gobies and blennioids seem to be getting named on an almost daily basis. Three new species, from three different genera, have been described from a single muddy, mesophotic bay in Papua New Guinea!…
Tosanoides aphrodite, A Spectacular & Very Unexpected New Anthias
Every year sees its share of dazzling new fish species, and the frontrunner for 2018 has to be this stunning new anthiadine, thus far known only from a very remote corner of the Atlantic. Researchers from the California Academy of Sciences discovered this pink and yellow beauty last year at St.…
Hypoplectrus liberte, A New And EXTREMELY Rare Hamlet From Haiti
The Hypoplectrus hamlets have long been one of the great evolutionary puzzles among coral reef fishes. These small seabasses are highly diverse in their coloration, varying from bright yellow to blue to black and those that are prominently barred, with just as many intermediates phenotypes that blur the edges of where one form stops and another starts.…
On White Tangs & Genomic Islands
The Scopas Tang is an ugly little fish with a fascinating story to tell. This fecal-hued acanthurid is by far the most widespread member of its small genus, with a population stretching from the African coast to the furthest islands of Polynesia.…
In Memoriam: Pioneering Aquarium Collector Daniel Pelicier
On Sunday, September 2nd, it was reported that aquarium collector Daniel Pelicier died during a dive in Mauritius. He was 74.
During his long career as a collector, Daniel was responsible for the discovery of many new species of reef fishes.…
Meet The New Groupers, Same As The Old Groupers
https://youtu.be/_vJqkhpV71Q
For the past decade, there has been some residual uncertainty when it came to the correct scientific names used for groupers. In 2007, Craig & Hastings published a seminal study investigating the phylogenetic relationships of the group and found a number of instances where our morphology based classification disagreed with the evolutionary picture painted by genetic data.…
Myersina balteata, A Goby 45 Years (And One World War) In The Making
There are a multitude of new gobies out there in the tropical Indo-Pacific waiting to be discovered, and the lengths one must go through to find and name them can be daunting. Take, for instance, the recently described Belted Shrimpgoby (Myersina balteata), which is known from just a single specimen, speared by the legendary ichthyologist John Randall… in 1973… at Guadalcanal… at a depth of 54 meters… from the wreckage of a Japanese transport vessel sunk during the island’s famous WWII battle.…