by Matthew Stansbery | Jun 5, 2014 | Conservation, Corals, Opinion, Science
A new study from the University of Georgia is helping us better understand the role symbiotic algae plays in bleaching events that occur on reefs throughout the world. Published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography the study created a minute-by-minute timeline... by Admin | Jun 5, 2014 | Conservation, Fish, Science, Tanks
Figure1. The new larval rearing room at TAL; showing the 120 Ltanks used to grow octopi in. We've also recently tested our fish species in them which we'll talk about next time. At the Tropical Aquaculture Lab in Ruskin, we’ve been running into lots of bottlenecks in the early larval development of some of the Rising Tide species we’ve been working on. We believe these issues were exacerbated due to our current larval rearing systems being inadequate to provide the pristine water quality necessary for larvae to survive. Because of this, we’ve spent the past several months upgrading our facilities, to what we believe will be an important step toward significant advancements in captive raised marine ornamentals. Figure 2. 22 day old common octopus paralarvae Upon nearing completion of the new system, we were approached by Mote Marine Laboratory’s cephalopod specialist Brian Siegel; their common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) had spawned, and they were curious if we would be interested at giving them a go. Rising Tide’s focus is primarily on the captive propagation of marine fish species, but we thought this would be a great way to test out our new larval rearing system. Common octopi have been reared in captivity at several institutions around the world, but with very low survival, believed to be due to poor water quality and nutrition. We’re hopeful the improvements we’ve made to our system will allow us to have some success with these challenging cephalopods. Cephalopods have incredible abilities to adapt to their environment using chromatophores, which are pigment-containing and light-reflecting organelles found within their cells. They allow the octopi to communicate as well as camouflage to their environment. Even as paralarvae, these common octopi can create beautiful patterns with their chromatophores, as seen here: Common octopus paralarvae have a voracious appetite for crustacean zoea in their natural environment, and have been successfully reared by substituting with Artemia nauplii as a prey item throughout development. By providing them with a constant supply of pristine seawater along with microalgae and Artemia nauplii, we’ve reached 28 days post hatch today. We’re hopeful they will remain strong enough to survive to settlement. The Rising Tide team at the Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory by Francis Yupangco | Jun 4, 2014 | Conservation, Fish, Science, Travel
There are more than 2000 species in the Gobiidae family. However, The Tidewater Goby, native to the lagoons in California, is the only member of it’s genus, Eucyclogobius and it is... by Austin Lefevre | Jun 3, 2014 | Conservation, Corals, Science
The quote above by Colin Foord, Co-Founder of Coral Morphologic, really hit home with me while reading an article in Miami New Times focusing on the efforts of Colin and crew to help save thousands of individual corals prior to a $220 million project to deepen Port... by Matthew Stansbery | Jun 1, 2014 | Conservation, Invertebrates
Newly appointed Professor Peter Ward, of the University Adelaide’s Sprigg Geobiology Centre is calling for a global ban on trade of the Nautilus sea shell. His efforts are stemming from a recent trip the Phillipeans where he found that the Nautilus is close to... by Matthew Stansbery | Jun 1, 2014 | Conservation, Corals, Fish, Invertebrates, Reef
Scientists from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) at James Cook university have challenged a long standing theory of biodiversity through their latest Caribbean reef study.…