Monday Archives: Introducing the Snowshine Seahorses

Introducing H. erectus var. Snowshine. As the head seahorse nerd and proprietor of FusedJaw.com, most of my articles shy away from my own operations. However, I’ve had a project underway I’ve been quietly working on for while that I’m excited to share: The Snowshines, a new variety of Hippocampus erectus. This new variety of seahorses, named Snowshines in honor of both the blustery state they were created (Wisconsin) a well as their unique coloration. Snowshines are still Lined Seahorses, H. erectus, but through selective breeding exhibit an unusual amount of pearlescent white markings, mixed with a base coloration that can manage a wide range of colors, all tinted with a glistening sheen. Light colored Snowshine H. erectus There have been a few varieties of seahorses offered by breeders based on color; but seahorses can change colors, making breeding for color a daunting task. Pintos, pieds, and other piebald varieties are probably the most well known, bur aquarists are frequently disappointed in the finicky color changes that can obscure the prize markings. The trouble with trying to breed for color with seahorses has always been that they are masters of camouflage and change to match their surrounding. But there is no set formula to encourage seahorses to display specific colors. There are certain tricks one can do, such as offer brightly colored holdfasts, but no one technique reliably guarantees color. And no one is quite sure of the extent that color is even an inheritable trait, as seahorses, like octopuses, use chromatophores (color-changing cells) to blend into their environment. Comparing Snowshines to wild-type H. erectus. Left shows a normal wild-type H. erectus at the bottom, and Snowshine var H. erectus above. Right image shows a wild-type H. erectus in the foreground, and Snowshine H. erectus behind it. I’ve been pondering this problem for a while, and decided to approach it from a different direction. Instead of attempting to breed for the base colors, which change, I’ve been selecting for the white coloration that occurs in the saddles and stars. Saddles are white patches that occur on the dorsal side of many seahorses, and stars are the small white dots that appear on many seahorses skin when displaying dark coloration (sometimes confused with ich by novice aquarists.) My observation is that these markings and color are more ‘sticky’ than the wide range of other colors H. erectus can produce. In working on this, I also noticed these markings seem have a certain amount of pearlescent shine. “Saddles” highlighted in yellow, “Stars” highlighted in blue on a wild-type H. erectus. Photo courtesy of Brian Gratwicke Snowshines are the results of using those observations to selectively breed a variety of seahorse that shows these traits amplified. Saddles merge to create large blocks of shiny white coloration. Many of them have masks much like certain clownfish varieties. And while the base color can change; black, green, yellow, and orange, brown are all color combinations I’ve seen underneath the white. My favorite, however, is when they display white on white – they not only show the white patches, but white coloration underneath, while displaying dark horizontal lines characteristic of H. erectus. Just like all seahorses, their colors are flexible, but the pearlescent “shine” stays. For example, many aquarists tend to shy away from darker colored seahorses. But with Snowshines, a black seahorse becomes a dramatic contrast of brilliant white and stark black. And while the exact coloration, shape and appearance does still change as they age as it appears with all seahorses, they keep the most dramatic coloration, the shine. Snowshine brother and sister from two different broods. Large male is 13 months and small female is 5 months in photo. The idea in selecting for these seahorses is partially based on the widespread interest in Hippocampus zebra, a rare deepwater seahorse that has only been found a handful of times. I’ve often wondered why someone doesn’t try to selectively breed H. erectus coloration to imitate H. zebra. H. erectus which has bold lines, but the distinctions between the lines and background colors of H. erectus isn’t very impressive. Eventually the idea brewed in my head long enough, and that someone became me. I didn’t end up with exactly what I set out to create, but I think I’ve created something much more interesting. A white-on-white Snowshine seahorse with bold horizontal stripes H. erectus is known for. Snowshines will be available for the first time through Diver’s Den. For those of you not familiar with Diver’s Den, it’s LiveAquaria.com’s WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) shop that let’s you purchase the exact fish or invertebrate you see photographed. If you’re interested in a truly unique seahorse, keep your eyes glued to Diver’s Den. Snowshines compared to normal H. erectus Snowshine showing white and brown coloration Snowshine seahorse pair showing mottled coloration This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 4th, 2013 at 8:29 am and is filed under Breeding. 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.

Mutant White Yellow Tang Shows Up at Pacific Island Aquatics

Here’s a totally awesome fish. Pacific Island Aquatics recently showed off this amazing aberrant yellow tang, which sports a large amount of white coloration instead of the normal solid yellow we’re so accustomed to. According to information posted on Reef2Reef, the fish was collected off the south side of Kona and tips the scales at just 4.5″ in length. This is about the average size for yellow tang sold in the aquarium hobby, if not a little bit larger, but it’s one of the smallest aberrant tangs collected. This makes it far more appealing than those huge aberrant tangs we normally see.The tang will be listed at $1500 (originally $2000), but PIA is entertaining reasonable offers. This is a pretty typical price for yellow tangs with this coloration.It should be noted that this is not an albino yellow tang. Rather, it is technically a leucistic yellow tang, meaning it’s simply lacking some of its natural pigmentation. This genetic condition results in the fish exhibiting significant white coloration, and in this case a small amount of yellow on its fins and random patches on its body.

Maxspect Celestial C35 Spotlight Announced in Three Colors

It’s been almost a year since it’s MACNA 2013 debut to the aquarium keeping world, but the Maxspect Celestial LED spotlight is finally close to a public release and its announcement is being accompanied by a whole bunch of new information. What we already known over the past several months was that the Celestial was a pendant-style LED light that incorporated the tiny Maxspect controller right into body of the light. What we weren’t expecting, however, was the fact that it would be available in three different models. The Celestial C35, so named for its 35watts of power consumption, will come in a full-spectrum RGB model that has a total of four channels of independent control, along with a dual-channel actinic version and a dual-channel algae friendly version for growing algae in a refugium. The flagship model, in all likelihood, will the be Celestial C35-F, the full spectrum version. The full-spectrum nature of the light will make it a great choice for illuminating just about every marine aquarium out there, and the robust control will let users fine tune the color to their liking. Across its four channels, this multi-chip LED light features: Channel A: Super Actinic (x2)410nm, (x2)420nm, (x2)430nm Channel B: Blue (x2)445nm, (x2)465nm, (x2)485nm Channel C: White (1)5000k Cool White, (1)3000k Warm White, (1)660nm Hyper Red Channel D: White (1)5000k Cool White, (1)3000k Warm White, (1)500nm Cyan The other sure-to-be popular model is the Super Blue Actinic C35-S. As its name suggests, it emits a whole bunch of blue light

An Aquarist’s Notes: Turbulence in Hawaii

Butterflyfishes on the west coast of the Big Island of Hawaii where aquarium collectors are active. Image by Eric Sorensen, WSU. An Aquarist’s Notes: Turbulence in Hawaii I first went to Hawaii on assignment for CORAL Magazine in 2010, and for the better part of four years I have covered that state’s aquarium fishery. I expected to find a fishery full of complicated regulations and even more complicated conflict. I found the latter in spades, but the former, to my surprise, didn’t really exist. Regulations were relatively few and far between—no total allowable catches (TACs), no quotas, no bag limits, no limited entry. I was, quite frankly, shocked that a commercial fishery in U.S. waters would be so unregulated. The fishers I interviewed, especially on Big Island, didn’t view it that way. Many felt they were being unfairly targeted and that veils of regulation were being drawn around them like the barrier nets they use to catch aquarium fishes. Some felt they had consistently given ground, made concessions in the face of anti-trade activism. Some were ready to make a stand, saying they couldn’t—wouldn’t—give any more. Some of these fishers opposed the rules package just signed by the governor. A few of them still oppose it, although they are not willing to say so on the record. Those fishers who stand in opposition to the new rules have some strange bedfellows. There are the anti-trade activists who say the rules don’t go far enough; the most extreme will not be satisfied with anything short of a fishery closure. Then there are mainland aquarists who are lukewarm on the new rules. They worry that a White List will make it more difficult to acquire some species with which they want to work in the short term. They anticipate a slippery slope that will lead to fewer and fewer species remaining available to trade in the long run. Personally, I was pleased to see the governor sign the rules package. I’m pleased because I see it as a step forward for aquarium fisheries in general. I see an opportunity to manage the fishery based on real data. The data really does matter, and rather than less, we need more. This rules package takes a relatively small swath of ocean—a shoreline of less than 150 miles—and says we’re going to manage it based on something more than anecdote and emotion. I look forward to reporting on the progress and talking about how this may be a model viable for export to other aquarium fisheries in far worse shape than Hawaii’s. Hawaii is on a path of good, data-based, adaptive management of its aquarium fishery. This type of management can protect the fishery in terms of both environmental sustainability and economic value. It replaces a messy form of conflict resolution with a multi-stakeholder, community-based approach, and now that the new rules are law, I think we all owe it to the people, the process, and the potential to get behind them.

West Hawaii Fisheries White List of Legal Aquarium Fishes

West Hawaii Regional Fishery Management Area WHITE LIST The following are the only marine fishes that may be legally collected for sale in the marine aquarium trade 1. Yellow Tang, Zebrasoma flavescens 2. Chevron Tang, Ctenochaetus hawaiiensis 3. Goldring Surgeonfish, Ctenochaetus strigosus 4. Achilles Tang, Acanthurus achilles 5. Tinker’s Butterflyfish, Chaetodon tinkeri 6. Clown Tang Naso lituratus 7. Forcepsfish Forcipiger flavissimus 8. Goldrim Surgeonfish Acanthurus nigricans 9. Potter’s Angelfish Centropyge potteri 10. Fourspot Butterflyfish Chaetodon quadrimaculatus 11. Yellowtail Coris Coris gaimard 12. Ornate Wrasse Halichoeres ornatissimus 13. Orangeband Surgeonfish Acanthurus olivaceus 14. Bird Wrasse Gomphosus varius 15. Eyestripe Surgeonfish Acanthurus dussumieri 16. Multiband Butterflyfish Chaetodon multicinctus 17. Saddle Wrasse Thalassoma duperrey 18. Brown Surgeonfish Acanthurus nigrofuscus 19. Flame Wrasse Cirrhilabrus jordani 20. Thompson’s Surgeonfish Acanthurus thompsoni 21. Peacock Grouper Cephalopholis argus 22. Bluestripe Snapper Lutjanus kasmira 23. Redbarred Hawkfish Cirrhitops fasciatus 24. Psychedelic Wrasse Anampses chrysocephalus 25. Hawaiian Whitespotted Toby Canthigaster jactator 26. Fisher’s Angelfish Centropyge fisheri 27. Hawaiian Dascyllus Dascyllus albisella 28. Milletseed Butterflyfish Chaetodon miliaris 29. Blacklip Butterflyfish Chaetodon kleinii 30. Pyramid Butterflyfish Hemitaurichthys polylepis 31. Shortnose Wrasse Macropharyngodon geoffroy 32. Black Durgon Melichthys niger 33. Spotted Boxfish Ostracion meleagris 34. Blackside Hawkfish Paracirrhites forsteri 35. Hawaiian Longfin Anthias Pseudanthias hawaiiensis 36. Eightstripe Wrasse Pseudocheilinus octotaenia 37. Fourstripe Wrasse Pseudocheilinus tetrataenia 38. Smalltail Wrasse Pseudojuloides cerasinus 39. Lei Triggerfish Sufflamen bursa 40. Gilded Triggerfish Xanthichthys auromarginatus