by Admin | May 15, 2014 | Conservation, Fish, Science, Tanks
Figure 1. A 35 day old milletseed butterflyfish larva with morepronounced dorsal spines. During this recent trial, larvae displayedgreater development in a shorter period of time.It’s been a while since our last milletseed butterflyfish post but, not to worry, I’ve been very busy conducting a variety of replicated experiments to better understand their larval requirements. From those experiments, I’ve learned several important things about raising the milletseed butterflyfish. From our previous examinations we knew that nauplii of the copepod Parvocalanus crassirostris could be used as a first feed, however, in clear water only about 50% of larvae were feeding. After exploring the literature, I decided to test a variety of parameters including algal turbidity, prey density, prey selectivity, tank size, light intensity, and stocking density in order to increase feeding performance. Figure 2. A 35 day old milletseed butterflyfish larva with less dorsal spine development and more elongate shape.From these studies I initially learned that the milletseed butterflyfish do not identify rotifers (Brachionus plicatilis) as prey throughout larval development. Additionally, testing revealed that different stocking densities, light intensities, and tanks sizes didn’t have a significant effect on feeding incidence or performance of the larvae. However, what did enhance feeding was the addition of algae (T-ISO) to the tank; which increased the feeding incidence to about 90%. Another interesting result was that feeding incidence was the same at 1 individual/mL as at prey densities up to 20 individuals/mL. While the rearing of milletseed butterflyfish to the juvenile phase has not been accomplished yet, this information is crucial for the optimization of culture methods of the milletseed butterflyfish. By improving early larval feeding we can increase early larval survival and promote development, increasing the likelihood of rearing larvae to settlement. by AquaNerd | May 14, 2014 | Fish, Science
The Marine Breeding Initiative is gearing up for yet another one of their MBI Workshops, which is slated for July 14th, and while the speaker lineup has been public record for some time now, the show’s organizers made a huge announcement late yesterday regarding the addition of one more. Joining the already star studded cast of subject matter experts is famed aquarium breeder, Karen Brittain. This is huge news for us fish nerds, as Karen is basically a legend of the hobby. Karen is well-known in aquarium breeding circles, having been doing it for what seems like an eternity. She has seen success with breeding Amphiprion latezonatus clownfish, and undertook difficult projects in breeding bandit angelfish, watanabe angelfish, and interruptus angelfish. Since living aquarium legends speak to aquarium groups all of the time, you might wonder why Karen’s “appearance” at the MBI Workshop is so surprising. Well, Karen resides in Hawaii, which makes traveling to aquarium shows a little bit costly and difficult. On top of that, she’s quite reclusive, not basking in the glory of the trade but toiling away in the “trenches” of fish breeding. That statement is not meant to be a knock on those experts who run the aquarium speaking circuit regularly, but instead it is meant to be commentary on just how significant her appearance is at the MBI Workshop. by Rich Ross | May 14, 2014 | Events, Fish, Science
There are two Academy groups currently in the Philippines for the 2014 Biodiversity Expedition: one from Research, and the other from the Aquarium. Though we’re staying at different locations, we collaborate when we can, like tonight. It all started with a 90-minute night dive at Anilao Pier to try to collect a Bobbitt worm—a creature that lives in the sand, has jaws like a bear trap, and might be several meters long. It shoots up with lightning speed to catch fish and other animals, yanking them down into the muck like something out of a nightmare. In the 1990s, Academy Senior Curator Terry Gosliner named the Bobbitt worm after Lorena Bobbitt (and her legendary attack on her husband), and Academy crews have been trying to collect this animal both for display and for our preserved collection ever since. One look at the photo shows you why catching this animal isn’t easy, but take a look at this video for an even better demonstration. Tonight’s effort was unsuccessful, though I did get my hand on one of the worms—yes, my hand. My wife is less than thrilled about these attempts, but she understands that we have to do what we have to do for science. More efforts are planned, and hopefully there will be success. Hopefully. After the worm hunt, there was a party—a party that started without us. Apparently it began with a whole roast pig (enjoyed by both Research and Aquarium Staff), but by the time the worm hunters arrived, things had changed drastically. Let’s just say that while there was still much fun to be had, there wasn’t much pig. Expeditions like this are an amazing amount of work, similar to running a triathlon. Instead of the events being swimming, running, and biking, the events are collection, processing, and animal care. The endurance needed to put out so much energy every single day is huge, but it’s also incredibly fulfilling when everything’s going well. Tonight’s party was a short break from the draining but rewarding work of the expedition … and the only picture I can find of the event is this one of me gnawing on a pig’s head. Ah, science—we love you. —Rich Ross, Aquatic Biologist by Rich Ross | May 13, 2014 | Corals, Fish, Invertebrates, Science
Greetings from Aniloa! After three and a half days of collecting in the field, we’ve amassed a nice collection of corals, invertebrates, and fish to ship back to the Academy—here’s a quick overview. The sites we’ve visited thus far include Twin Rocks, Devil’s Point, Bethlehem, Mapating Point, Dari Laut, Matu Point, and Anilao Pier, and we currently have 70 specimens on hand. They come from varying genera—Acropora, Fungia, Turbinaria, Tubastrea, Sinularia, and Sarcophyton—and they’re being kept in a temporary field aquarium set up at the Anilao Beach Club. (Rich Ross will be blogging about that setup later, so I won’t go into it here.) We were also able to acquire three snake anemones while on a night dive at Anilao Pier, and we’ll continue our quest for the elusive Bobbitt worm tonight during another night dive at the same location. Oh, and one more highlight: On this afternoon’s dive at Matu Point, Rich was able to collect a pair of ghost pipefish, which were way up there on our list of acquisitions for this expedition. With a couple more days of diving and collecting ahead, Aquarium Team One should be on track to collect most, if not all, of what we have set out for on this trip. —Seth Wolters, Assistant Curator for Steinhart Aquarium by AquaNerd | May 13, 2014 | Conservation, Fish, Industry, Science
Wrasses are arguably the most diverse group of fish in the ocean, and according to a new journal entry on the Ocean Science Foundation, a new and very flamboyant member is being added to that group. To make the news even more exciting, the species was discovered not by scientific exploration, but by eagle-eyed professionals in the aquarium industry, further adding to the importance of the hobby to the scientific and conservation communities. In July of last year, Greenwich Aquaria imported a beautiful pencil wrasse from Kenya, quickly noticing the fish was different. They shared the images of the fish on their social media channels, at the same time claiming the fish was a new species. Almost a year later, that claim was confirmed in the scientific article penned by Benjamin Victor and John Randall, which we linked to above. The new species, named Pseudojuloides edwardi after Jason Edward from the aquarium store, differs from its two sibling species, P. severnsi from Indonesia and the Mauritian P.
