KaiTheFishGuy
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Kai is a systematic ichthyologist at The Australian Museum, Sydney. His research interests combine the use of cutting-edge next generation sequencing techniques with traditional methods of morphology to better understand the evolutionary history of coral reef fishes. He is a legacy ReefBuilders contributor, having previously written close to give hundred articles under his pseudonym LemonTYK.

Amazing Aquarium’s soft coral display will lull you into a hypnotic trance

I think it’s so unfair that people don’t give soft coral enough credit. I’m not talking about zoanthids, those single limited edition collectable polyps that cost as much as an emerald ring doesn’t quite cut it for me. I’m talking…

Swirling gyre of juvenile Acanthochromis polyacanthus videoed at an opportune moment

While admiring the aquarium at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo recently, we chanced upon a rather special moment in one of their reef set ups. It came as an opportune moment just as we were about to leave, when the eggs…

Happy Taxonomist Appreciation Day!

Today, March 19th is Taxonomist Appreciation Day. This rather obscure day may not sound familiar to everyone, but it should, and hopefully it will gain a stronger following in the years to come. Today we say thank you in appreciation…

The Suzanne and Walter Scott Aquarium might just be Omaha’s best kept secret

When you think coral and saltwater fish, Nebraska would probably not come to mind immediately. Being triply landlocked, Nebraska is as far away from the sea as you could imagine. Somewhere within Omaha however is home to the Henry Doorly…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: Who took a tuka and made it pascalus?

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but the hiatus ends today with another Awesome Fish Spotlight. This time we feature not one, but two species as we draw attention to Pseudanthias pascalus and Pseudanthias tuka. While looking superficially similar and rather…

Midweek Misnomer: Plectranthias (Zalanthias) azumanus vs Plectranthias (Zalanthias) kelloggi

This week’s Midweek Misnomer addresses the confusion between two Plectranthias species. Again with Plectranthias. We’re just having a good jive with the genus recently and the past three fish posts from me have been about this. The misidentification of various…

Plectranthias yamakawai debuts in the market at Remix Japan

Besides having a knack for creative LFS names, the Japanese are also highly skilled in obtaining crazy fish, many of which are unlikely to register in the minds of the day to day hobbyist. Japanese fish store Remix has just obtained…

Undescribed Plectranthias from Papua shows up in Bangkok, Thailand

If there’s a genus we love more than or equal to Liopropoma here at Reef Builders, it’s got to be Plectranthias. Unfortunately, Plectranthias is poorly reviewed and the genus is riddled with numerous undescribed members which leads to confusion in identifying various species. To make…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: Prismatic Tosanoides flavofasciatus

A throwback to our final Osaka review saw us mentioning briefly the incredible prismatic beauty of Tosanoides flavofasciatus. Like Liopropoma aurora, this species, especially this particular specimen is deserving of a full and separate post to really showcase its beauty and…

Opulent Osaka Part 4: A BlueHarbor tribute, and the man behind the brand

We’ve come to our last and final installation of our four part Osaka travelogue. If you’ve been following parts 1, 2 and 3, we hope you’ve enjoyed it, and thank you for exploring some of Osaka’s most opulent reef keepers…