Colours of the Reef is a massive new picture book by Roger Steene that is setting new benchmarks for marine life photography. The sprawling new work consists of three volumes, with more than 7,000 pictures spread across an astounding 1,400 pages.…
Coral
Stony coral taxonomy is getting all shook up & straightened out
The notion of discussing stony coral (Scleractinian) taxonomy is probably one that will elicit the blankest of stares. However, if you are hyper passionate about corals, their evolution and especially their relatedness gives us reefers insight to the care requirements,…
Newly described black coral is one of the oldest living animals in the world
Leiopathes annosa is a new species of deep sea black coral that was recently discovered living on the seafloor around the waters of Hawaii and the Papahanaumokuakea marine national monument. In addition to being a new and previously unknown species, the…
Medusa Montipora hirsuta from Sustainable Aquatics
Sustainable Aquatics is renowned for high quality captive bred fish, and has been in the spotlight for the recent release of the hobby’s first ever longfin clownfish strain. What you may not know about Sustainable Aquatics is that they also…
Shallow water Acropora globiceps looks like living crystals
We have held a soft spot for Acropora globiceps ever since the beginning of our adventures in reef and stony coral keeping. Acropora globiceps was one of the first acro frags that we ever got and grew, yet this species is…
Australogyra zelli, the magnificent branching moon coral
Last week we had the great fortune of returning from the Solomon Islands on a very special expedition to the Central Province, on behalf of Unique Corals, exploring for rare an unusual corals from this region of the Coral Triangle. Back in…
Sarcophyton Leather Corals: Attractive, Toxic, and Tough as Nails
When it comes to hardiness, ease of care, and general adaptability, few corals can compare to those of the genus Sarcophyton—the so-called toadstool, or mushroom, leather corals. Despite their lack of chromatic brilliance, they’re also pretty neat looking to boot.…
Marine Aquarium Acronyms: SPS and LPS Defined
It’s been far too long since I last attempted to dissect the dizzying “alphabet soup” of acronyms we marine aquarium hobbyists use to simplify our terminology. So, for today’s post, I’d like to clarify two particular acronyms that arise early…
Acropora monticulosa is the ultimate ‘fractal’ stony coral
Acropora monticulosa is one of our favorite corals out on the reef, it grows to massive sizes and looks more or less like a huge living crystal when you see it in the wild. Due to its massive size and…
The beautiful entries of this year’s Aquarama reef aquascaping competition
Aquarama is best known for its expansive display of a freshwater aquarium fish competition featuring the nicest discus, most beautiful betta fish, most jaw-dropping asian arowanas, and many more. But over the last few years Aquarama has also try to…