Well what did we tell you. Didn’t we mention it’s very likely that a super cool fish will swoop in at the last minute just before the year closes to shock everyone? In what seems like a yearly tradition, 2014…
mauritius
Macropharyngodon vivienae new range extension could mean we’ll be seeing more of this species
While Macropharyngodon may not enjoy the popularity of other wrasses such as Cirrhilabrus, it is most certainly not stuck in a rut. The genus is not heading in a dead end track, but rather has had a few interesting developments recently. With M. pakoko being…
Gem tang hybrid could be the rarest surgeonfish ever
If you thought a gem tang was rare, just wait until you get a good look at this very unique surgeonfish just captured in Mauritius. At first glance the little Zebrasoma looks like a scopas tang, Zebrasoma scopas, but upon further inspection this…
Awesome Fish Spotlight: The Mauritian endemic Pseudojuloides xanthomos
Pseudojuloides is a genus of touchy labrids that are aptly named pencil wrasses for their slender figure. The genus boasts a sizeable number of mostly colourful sexually dichromatic species, of which only a small sampling is offered to the aquarium trade.…
Exquisite firefish, Nemateleotris exquisita – a bigger yellow version of the purple firefish
The exquisite firefish, Nemateleotris exquisita, joins the small but illustrious group of reef fish which are endowed with equally flattering latin names. Hailing from the western Indian Ocean, the new exquisite firefish looks very similar to the well known purple firefish,…
Awesome Fish Spotlight: The tiger damselfish, Chrysiptera annulata, from the Western Indian Ocean
Sometime this summer we found ourselves floating on the surface of a shallow Indian Ocean near shore reef when we spotted something bright and unexpected – a brilliant black and white damselfish the likes of which we had never seen…
The Mauritian Zebra Tang is so much more than a fancy convict
Acanthurus polyzona, aka the Zebra Tang from Mauritius and the Western Indian Ocean has been a book fish that we thought we would never see with our own eyes for so long, we had all but given up ever seeing one in…
Incredible large colony of purple boulder Porites sighted in Mauritius
Of all the SPS corals available to us reefers, Porites corals are incredibly under-appreciated, unless they have some fancy Xmas tree worms or colored polyps. We’ve poked fun at the underwhelming appearance of boulder Porites in the past but this colony…
The Zebra Tang has come to US and UK aquariums
The Zebra tang, aka Acanthurus polyzona is a very rare “book fish” which we’ve covered before from a distance, but this story is about some good news for aquarists. After about two years of poking, prodding, begging, pleading and insisting,…
Centropyge debelius, rare look at the blue Mauritius angelfish
Centropyge debelius is one of the least well known species of pygmy angelfish and as rare as we make it out to be, a few are collected here and there in Mauritius. As you might expect, the Blue Mauritius Angelfish…