by Reef To Rainforest | Mar 3, 2014 | Fish, Photography, Science
CORAL, The Reef & Marine Aquarium Marine, has been named Hobbyist Magazine of the Year in a Niche Media awards ceremony in Charleston, South Carolina on February 26th. CORAL with its first Nichee Magazine Award. Likened to an Oscar for smaller publications, the Nichee Magazine Awards recognize excellence in content, visual presentation, and publishing acumen. CORAL is published in the small town of Shelburne, Vermont, but reaches an estimated worldwide audience of 37,000 readers, primarily in the United States and Canada, but with distribution in the UK, Australia, Scandinavia, South Africa and India. “We are thrilled to be recognized by our peers,” says Editor & Publisher James Lawrence. “In a time when print newspapers and magazines are said to be dying, in fact niche titles in many fields of interest are thriving.” “We couldn’t do it without our outstanding writers and photographers—some of the world’s best—our loyal readers and a small, dedicated and very hardworking staff in Vermont,” said Lawrence. “Someone here joked that this is Academy Awards weekend and we have already won ours, and I should keep the speech short.” The current incarnation of CORAL was launched in 2009 and is the official English Language Edition of the German title KORALLE, originally created by Publisher Matthias Schmidt and Editor Daniel Knop in 1999. One of Europe’s leading periodical and book specialty publishers, Natur und Tier-Verlag GmbH of Münster is the parent company of KORALLE and is known for publishing the work of authoritative authors, with bod graphics and arresting nature photography. by Tami Weiss | Mar 3, 2014 | Fish, Science, Seahorses, Tanks
A flirty pair of seahorses from Seahorse Canada. Canadians have long had trouble getting true captive bred seahorses. CITES has had the unfortunate side effect of restricting access to Captive Bred seahorses to Canada, and while a few overseas companies do ship across the border, it’s a difficult process. No more! Seahorse Canada has recently opened it’s doors, specializing in captive bred seahorses. Their first offering is the Lined Seahorse Hippocampus erectus. H. erectus are considered the hardiest of the seahorses, making this an excellent first offering. This is doubly good news, as many of the tank raised seahorses that make it into Canada tend to species that are more difficult to keep. A beautiful group of Lined Seahorses showing long cirri, the fleshy growths that help them blend into algal environments. And did I mention they’re true captive bred seahorses? Seahorse Canada is a home based breeding facility, allowing Angelo Guaragna, his girlfriend Eve Herman and Thanny, the resident “seahorse whisperer” , to monitor their seahorses 24/7 and ensure they are getting the best care. Those of you familiar with seahorses know that many tank raised seahorses fair poorly in home aquariums, so having access is to true captive bred seahorses north of the border will make seahorse keeping a much easier prospect for Canadians. Yellow Lined Seahorse showing the bright colors they can achieve. I took a few minutes of their time to ask how they got started. Eve had her first experience with seahorses at 8 years old, given to her by her mother; this started a lifelong love of seahorses. Just under four years ago, her interest in seahorses sparked the set up of a few marine tanks. The care and attention of Thanny, along with help from saltwater expert Colin from Reef Boutique Toronto, helped to inspire them to take their passion to the next level. So, after a few years of research and experimenting with different species, foods and environments, they have been successful in breeding H. erectus and are currently in process of trying to breed H. reidi. Eve, Angelo and Thanny, were able to get their breeding operation off the ground. Seahorse Canada is currently working towards raising the ever popular Brazilian Seahorse. Seahorse Canada is currently researching shipping methods, and have shipped as far as Ottawa. They are continuing to research best shipping practices so they can offer their seahorses to aquarists across the country. Seahorse Canada hopes to offer supplies and specialty foods for seahorses soon. And they are currently working with the Brazilian Seahorse, H. reidi, which they plan to offer in the future. Oh Canada, you have your seahorses now! Many beautiful seahorses available to Canadians. This entry was posted on Saturday, February 22nd, 2014 at 5:41 pm and is filed under Aquarium Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. by Reef To Rainforest | Feb 23, 2014 | Fish, Invertebrates, Science, Tanks
A Red Sea Urchin of the Northeast Pacific, Strongylocentrotus franciscanus. Of urchins and amphipods and of beauty and bugs Text & Images by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. People who have read more than one of my musings generally are aware I like to discuss things that aren’t what they seem to be. And particularly, I like to discuss things that seem to be very obvious, but actually are more oblivious than obvious. So putting this all together, I like to discuss interactions that are obviously what they aren’t. A good case in point revolves around the large Red Sea Urchin of the Northeastern Pacific, Strongylocentrotus franciscanus. These are sea urchins that are far larger than the common sea urchins of reef aquaria.
