The mid-18th century marks the beginning of the modern science of coral reef biology, and one of the first great researchers from this era was a young Swedish naturalist by the name of Peter Forsskål. As a student of Linnaeus—the father of zoological taxonomy—Forsskål was in a unique position [...]
Cirrhilabrus is undeniably one of my favorite labrid genera, and so it comes as no surprise that today’s instalment of epithet etymology highlights yet another species in this speciose genus. Today’s fish in focus is Cirrhilabrus isosceles, the pin-tail fairy wrasse. This particular [...]
It has been a while since our last installation of epithet etymology, and, to make up for the absence in posts, we’ll feature a truly stunning fish from the butterflyfish genus Chaetodon. In keeping with the theme of these articles, we’ll take a look at the meaning behind the name of [...]
Today’s instalment of epithet etymology features two species of reef fish displaying extreme dichotomy in nearly all aspects of their biology – the first, known only as a rare, reclusive denizen of deep reef slopes, while the other, a common and highly ubiquitous fish in [...]
On today’s Epithet Etymology, we find ourself examining the naming origins of yet another fairy wrasse of the genus Cirrhilabrus. While I try to inject a little bit of diversity in my posts, I can’t help but circle back to my favourite labrid genus from time to time. This time though, [...]
The circumtropical genus Chromis is a ubiquitous icon of any coral reef, and can be found anywhere from sun speckled coral gardens to lung compressing depths in the mesophotic twilight zone. Despite their near abrasive presence both in the field and in the aquarium trade, not much is known [...]
Good March everybody. After last week’s foray into some rather unbecoming “reef” fishes, we’ll make a Uey back into familiar territory. Literally nothing is more familiar to the casual aquarist than angelfishes and surgeonfishes. Today’s epithet etymology elucidates [...]
Because today’s instalment of epithet etymology feature two slightly unorthodox fishes, we’ll go ahead and make up for it by featuring two species, instead of the usual one. These are not the average fishes that a marine aquarist would encounter in their day to day foray in their field, [...]
