After so many years enjoying and looking forward to the coral feature articles that Jake Adams wrote and Vincent Chalias still writes for Reef Builders, I came across a coral that inspired me to want to compose a gushing, over…
The New Octocorallia: Scleralcyonacea (And A Few Remaining Mysteries)
Having now fully explored the Malacalcyonacea Part 1 and Part 2, it’s time to turn our attention to its sister group, the order Scleralcyonacea. These clades are roughly equivalent in terms of species-level diversity, but whereas the malacalcyonaceans included many…
The New Octocorallia: Malacalcyonacea Part 2
In our previous installment of this series, we met with a diverse array of Soft Corals and Gorgonians, including most of the species familiar to aquarists. Amongst these were a hodgepodge of ex-Scleraxonia, ex-Stolonifera, and ex-Alcyonacea genera, now all lumped…
The New Octocorallia: Malacalcyonacea Part 1
In our previous review of octocoral classification, we saw that anywhere from 3–8 orders have traditionally been used to organize this group’s bewildering biodiversity, based on morphological assumptions of increasing complexity within the evolutionary history of these corals. It was…
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…
Petco’s tank sale slashes prices on all Aqueon aquariums
Pet care retailer Petco is having a tank sale across a wide range of popular aquariums. Large or small, 1 gallon up to 75 gallons, prices have been slashed across the extensive Aqueon range, saving fishkeepers valuable dollars off their…
Living Coral Biobank Project Kicks off in Australia
You might have heard of a seed bank but have you ever heard of a Living Coral Biobank? A relatively new initiative by Great Barrier Reef Legacy is taking place in tropical North Queensland, Australia. Right on the doorstep to…
Coelastrea, Red-headed Stepchild of the Merulinidae
This article is a guest post by long term coral-taxonomy Liason Joseph Rowlett. His Indo-Pacific corals book is one of the best and newest references to learn more about coral identification. Coelastrea had a troubled entrance into this world. The…
What it’s Like To Start a ‘Career in Corals’
My name is Levi Peterson and a few months ago I made a decision to work closely with corals at ACI Aquaculture. I formerly worked at a local pet store and personally worked very closely with Non-Photosynthetic corals. However, when…
First Captive Spawning of Homophyllia australis, the Australian ‘Scolie’
For the past ten years my work has been focused on successfully inducing coral spawning events in aquariums, but Homophyllia australis is a species that remained elusive to me despite four years of effort and commitment. The challenge of working…