At the risk of sounding cliche and in a manner most routine, it’s difficult not to admit the prowess and remarkable work that Bali Aquarich has accomplished. Founded by Su Wen-Ping, this Bali based aquaculture company has won the world over…
An eye for a Bigeye
The family Priacanthidae, more commonly known as Catalufas and Bigeyes, are strange looking fish that look less out of place with Alice and her wonderland than in the ocean. The family comprises of roughly twenty species, in four genera namely Cookeolus, Heteropriacanthus,…
Awesome Fish Spotlight: Pseudojuloides kaleidos, in all its beautiful forms
Of all the labrids that enter the trade, none are quite as refreshing and unorthodox as Pseudojuloides. Wrasses are social butterflies that are found in haremic groups. usually of a single male and multiple females. As such, maintaining a species of…
Diversity and forms of the Pseudanthias ventralis species flock: How many are there?
In light of our recent trend in picking apart cryptic species within a given complex like we did for Pseudanthias pascalus and Nemateleotris helfrichi, we continue yet again with a rather massive undertaking. This time with Pseudanthias ventralis. This beautiful species is…
Pseudojuloides polackorum is the newest species of pencil wrasse from South Africa
The genus Pseudojuloides constitutes a collection of fusiform torpedo shaped wrasses with chisel like incisiform teeth that are more often found living in lose sandy rubble instead of the usual coral cover. Pseudojuloides was last revised in 1981 where five new…
Nemateleotris helfrichi: A tale of two heads
Immense fish collection in the early 90’s brought new light to a plethora of colourful reef fish, many of which the world had never seen. In 1938, from a smorgasbord of specimens in the Albatross collection, one exquisite little fish…
Centropyge abei and Chaetodon smithi: Black and yellow superstars of Waikiki
If you ever visit Hawaii and don’t stop by the Waikiki aquarium, consider yourself a felon and a convicted criminal for breaking the fish geek code. In a small public aquarium within the Waikiki neighbourhood of Honolulu lives two mega superstars of…
Awesome Fish Spotlight: Steinhart’s studly Genicanthus lamarck
Like the insanely beautiful traffic cone coloured male Genicanthus semifasciatus in the Dallas Aquarium, Steinhart in the California Academy of Science has its own studly Genicanthus to boast. G. lamarck is a common species with a rather large distribution in…
Steinhart Aquarium’s Caribbean display is a truly realistic representation of a biotope
Few set ups truly elicit fascination and marvel quite like those done in a biotope fashion. A biotope refers to an area of uniform environmental conditions which provides a specific niche for a particular set of organisms. Because aquarists are spoilt for choice…
Awesome Fish Spotlight: Solar Flare, the hypomelanistic flame angelfish
This is the first time we’re featuring an aberrant fish for Awesome Fish Spotlight, and today’s featured fish is a hypomelanistic flame angel. Unlike many of the funky koi mutations which often manifest as unusual and unknown transient colour changes,…