by AquaNerd | Jul 8, 2016 | Conservation, Fish, Reef, Science
Researchers in Texas have discovered an extremely rare, eyeless catfish once thought only to exist in Mexico. A pair of the endangered Mexican blindcat (Prietella phreatophila) was discovered in the depths of a limestone cave at Amistad National Recreation Area near Del Rio, Texas. The pair has since been moved to the San Antonio Zoo. “Since the 1960s, there have been rumors of sightings of blind, white catfishes in that area, but this is the first confirmation,” Dean Hendrickson, curator of ichthyology at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a press release. “I’ve seen more of these things than anybody, and these specimens look just like the ones from Mexico.” The Mexican blindcat is a species that grows no more than 3 inches by AquaNerd | May 24, 2016 | Conservation, Fish, Reef, Science
Last week we posted an article explaining how unwelcome trespassers have recently disrupted the environment and possibly killed a Devil’s Hope Pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis), one of the rarest fish species on the planet. After hearing of this incident, we thought it would be interesting to learn more about how this fish can survive in such an inhospitable desert environment such as “Death Valley”. We begin with a little history of how this fish has survived more than one conflict with humans. Back in the 1960s, the Pupfish was almost wiped out due to water pumping activities around the geothermal springs where this fish lives. Fortunately for the Pupfish, environmental activists mobilized which led to a US Supreme Court ruling giving protection to the small population by AquaNerd | May 7, 2016 | Conservation, Fish, Industry, Reef, Science
Vancouver Aquarium marine scientist Laura Borden holds up a piece of kelp found in shallow waters in Howe Sound on Monday. (Rafferty Baker/CBC) Scientists with the Vancouver Aquarium were on the water last week looking closely at how a serious decline in the Sea Star population in the waters in Howe Sound near West Vancouver is impacting the rest of the marine ecosystem. Scientists first started noticing a decline in Sea Star populations in 2013 and the cause for the decline is what is know as, Sea star wasting disease. “It was really striking to see the wasting sea stars. They kind of lose their internal body pressure, they develop lesions, they start to fall apart, drop their arms, so it’s really quite gruesome,&rdquo by AquaNerd | Apr 22, 2016 | Aquaculture, Conservation, Events, Industry, MACNA, Reef, Science
The Marine Aquarium Societies of North America (MASNA) is proud to announce the 2016 – 2017 MASNA Student Scholarships. MASNA is a non-profit organization composed of marine aquarium societies and individual hobbyists from North America and abroad, totaling several thousand individuals. MASNA’s goals are to: Educate our members with online and published material, the MACNA conference, and other sanctioned events. Assist in forming and promoting the growth of clubs within the hobby while ensuring a sustainable future for the marine environment. Support the efforts to eliminate abuses in collecting and transporting marine organisms through education, assistance and encouragement. Encourage the ethical growth of the marine aquarium hobby and support captive breeding/propagation efforts. To further the goals of MASNA, MASNA offers the MASNA Student Scholarship program to by AquaNerd | Mar 7, 2016 | Conservation, Fish, Reef, Science
This is a continuation from the article, Save Aquariums in a Power Outage: Keep Fish and Reptile Pets Safe with a Power Inverter (Part 1). Doing some initial research, my wife and I found that buying a power inverter to keep our reptile and fish devices running during a power outage was the right choice. Now came the challenging part: deciding which power inverter would fit our needs. To our surprise, there were loads of options to consider when buying a power inverter for our apartment. Most importantly, we had to consider budget and output ability. Furthermore, we found out there are two main types of power inverters: Modified Sine Wave and Pure Sine Wave. Our first concern was price. We had quite a bit of
