As long-living creatures, coral colonies that grow very large have the potential to tell us a lot about the past. This is especially true of large, massive stony corals which include colonies that grow for hundreds and even thousands of…
raja ampat
First Video of the Unique Copperband Butterflyfish of Raja Ampat
Chelmon rostratus, aka the Copperband Butterflyfish is an extremely beautiful fish, and by far one of the most common and popular species of butterflyfish in home aquariums, and on the reef. Earlier this year we told you about our travels and…
Jungles of stony coral on the shallow reefs of Raja Ampat (video)
There’s not too many places in the world where corals are so abundant and diverse that they form a veritable Jungle of living corals. Sure, many places have exceptional living coral reefs where the shallows are approaching 90 to 100%…
Unseen Corals: Acropora pinguis might be the thickest-branching staghorn coral
Acropora pinguis is a very special coral that we’ve never seen in the aquarium hobby, and there’s probably very good reason for that. If you discount staghorn corals of the Isopora genus, the big cat’s paw corals, then Acropora pinguis forms the…
Black tiger maxima clam in the wild
In case you had forgotten what a stellar black tiger maxima clam is supposed to look like . . . here’s some great shots of this clam to jog your memory. It’s been a long time since giant clams have…
Diving Mioskon Island, Raja Ampat Indonesia
Raja Ampat and the Dampier Straight is home to some of the best diving around. Located at the heart of the coral triangle Raja Ampat has some of the highest recorded diversity of fish and corals in the world. Few dive sites stand…
Three of our favorite fish dives in Raja Ampat
In December we had the opportunity to go diving in the heart of the coral triable, Raja Ampat Indonesia. We come across some pretty crazy looking corals, and one super old gigas clam, however the real stars of Raja Ampat…
Pink Acropora jacquelineae discovered in Raja Ampat
Acropora jacquelineae is a very recognizable species of deepwater or smooth skinned Acro. It is relatively easy to keep, but until now if you wanted to try your hand at growing the unique shape of Acropora jacquelineae you had to…
Face to face with the Cenderawasih butterflyfish, Forcipiger wanai
The Cenderawasih butterflyfish, Forcipiger wanai, was described just a little over three years ago from Cenderwasih Bay Indonesia. New species of butterflyfish don't come along very often so we definitely took note when one was newly minted. Forcipiger wanai is only the…
Reefbuilders Indonesia Travelogue – Raja Ampat
Raja Ampat is a true underwater paradise, and this past week we had the privilege of diving some of the best reefs the Park had to offer. For those of you that are not familiar, the Raja Ampat Marine Park…