Captivating Clavularia

If you want a coral that’s both easy to keep and colorful, look no further than the Clove polyps, Clavularia spp. They’ve been in the hobby for decades, but are one of those coral families which have really benefitted from…

The New Octocorallia: A Brief Review of Taxonomic Chaos

Soft Corals, Gorgonians, and Sea Pens comprise the Octocorallia, a major branch in the coral tree of life whose 3000+ species come in nearly every shape imaginable. Not surprisingly, this biodiversity has confounded taxonomists for centuries, resulting in no shortage…

Show soft corals some love with a shallow lagoon tank

We don’t show enough of our tanks from the other side of the Atlantic so I thought I would show my own little project from the UK – this 200 liter/52 gallon soft coral-dominated lagoon tank. It was devised over…

Wanting Versus Needing

Wanting Versus Needing       While my daughter was at home for Spring Break, one of her most frequent refrains was “I need this” or “I will die without that”. As a parent one of the things I tried to…

Get Inspired By This Forest Of Soft Corals in Raja Ampat

Besides Zoanthids and the new wave of shrooms, the aquarium hobby is ruled by our love for stony corals. But soft corals are an important part of the reef environment, sometimes becoming so dominant that they form veritable forests of softly swaying…

Two new coral species found off West Coast of North America

Two new species of octocoral have been discovered off the Pacific Coast of the United States and Canada. The new corals were discovered in a tide pool in San Diego and the other off the coast of British Columbia. Octocorals are…

Diving in Browning Pass, British Columbia is an Azoox paradise

This video show just why Browning Pass is referred to as “The Best Cold-Water Diving in the Known Universe.” If you aren’t familiar with the name, Browning Pass is located just outside Port Hardy in British Columbia on the northern…