Acanthaster planci, more commonly known as the Crown-of-Thorn starfish, is a voracious predator which feeds on stony coral polyps. The starfish gets its name from the toxic thorn-like spines covering its body, which resemble a biblical “crown of thorns”. The…
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The story of how Pseudojuloides severnsi was discovered
The royal pencil wrasse, Pseudojuloides severnsi, is one of the most striking species of labrids, one that quite single handedly puts the pencil wrasses on the proverbial map. Once considered to be a very difficult species to keep in aquariums, as…
Kristen Marhaver’s TED Talk on reef-building with baby corals
We recently came across this great TED talk which presents some pretty interesting research about coral larval behavior, and what it may take for baby corals to survive and thrive in a changing ocean environment. “How we’re growing baby corals…
Artificial intelligence the brains behind new lionfish trap
The people that brought you lionfish derbies, Team Frapper, to help reduce the population of invasive lionfish in Florida’s coastal waters has a new project, using artificial intelligence to build a baitless trap to catch lionfish. The lionfish derbies, organized…
Lutjanus xanthopinnis, a new snapper species described from the Indo-Pacific
Lutjanus xanthopinnis is a new species of snapper that has just been described and joins a large complex of snappers with a pattern of yellow lines. Generally speaking, the yellow finned snapper looks more like something you might eat than keep…
Jimmy’s Ma’s incredible ‘Blue Monster’ coral beauty angelfish
Jimmy Ma is the undisputed connoisseur of unusual and aberrant Centropyge morphs. Over the years he’s shared with us his koi coral beauty, multicolor angel hybrid, a trio of Tigerpyge, and many many more. Among his impressive collection, the ‘Blue Monster’…
2015 Sumbawa Expedition teaser trailer
In a rare show of foresight, ReefAPalooza together with World Wide Corals have supported us in documenting a unique experience to share with their attendees for their 2016 conferences. For our third concerted aquarium-centric expedition to natural wild reefs, we…
Diploprion drachi, the Drachi soapfish from the Red Sea
Soapfish may not be the first group of fish that jump to mind when it comes to selecting a good reef inhabitant. Heck, they may not even be in the first 8, 9,or 10 groups of fish, and generally there…
Reef Builders Indonesia Travelogue – Bajau Village on Sumbawa Island
Years ago I read an article about the Bajau Laut “Sea Gypsies” and since then I have always wanted to see one of these community for myself. This past week Reefbuilders had the opportunity to visit a Bajau village and…
Arabian butterflyfish eating prepared food on video
The Arabian Butterflyfish is a piscine so stunningly gorgeous, but we daren’t look directly at it lest we succumb to its spell. Among the thousands of reef fish species, there is a certain group of extremely beautiful butterflyfish which are…