Lumpsucker lovers beware, Coldwater Marine Aquatics managed to import a group of Lethotremus awae from Japan, and these little suckers (pun intended) are absolutely adorable. Called Dango-uo in Japanese, we’ll call them Dango Lumpsuckers.
Lumpsuckers are not fish you typically think of in the context of reef aquarium keeping, but these fish are not exactly meant for your average reef tank as they are coldwater fish. Lumpsuckers (basically fish in the Cyclopteridae family), are named for their modified pelvic fins which basically forms a sucking disc to attach themselves to the rock. Their most often recognized for their comical spherical bodies, large eyes and gaping mouth.
Lump suckers are found all over the world including the United States but they can be hard to obtain do to collection regulations and their specific habitat, thus the choice to import them from Japan (not to mention availability of different species). The video alone of these guys is sure to brighten up your day, and they are surprisingly active in the water column.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bLGHECYL9c[/youtube]
Coldwater Marine Aquatics imported a whole group of these Dango Lumpsuckers, but they’ve appeared to already sold out on its website. This was definitely not its last import from Japan however, so we’ll probably see some more of these guys in the future. Considering the original plan on Facebook was to import Eumicrotremus Taranetzi, or the Namedango lumpsucker, we might even see several species in the future.
