To the uninitiated, the mesophotic coral reefs would seem like an unlikely place to find vibrant fish life. Antonymous to the ebullient habitat of shallow water coral gardens, the mesophotic zone is a gloomy contrast of seemingly endless dread and forlorn landscapes. Except not…
Anthias
O’ don’t you love this anthias – Odontanthias unimaculatus
Odontanthias is a small genus which includes slightly over a dozen species. Members of this genus are quite unlike the slender cliché of regular anthiines, and are characterized by having rather deep body profiles and steep foreheads. Being exclusive worshippers…
New splitfin anthias species, Luzonichthys seaver described from Pohnpei Micronesia
Luzonichthys seaver is a new species of splitfin anthias that has just been described from two specimens collected in Pohnpei Micronesia. The splitfin anthias are an uncommon group of fishes in the marine aquarium hobby whose number of recognized species…
Dynasty’s deepwater deluge series 3: Plectranthias garrupellus and Gonioplectrus hispanus
The final series to this short Curacaoan sampling deals with two prominent and rather well known Serranids from the region. Plectranthias garrupellus and Gonioplectrus hispanus are more or less icons of the surrounding region and are again, one of the few…
The Suzanne and Walter Scott Aquarium might just be Omaha’s best kept secret
When you think coral and saltwater fish, Nebraska would probably not come to mind immediately. Being triply landlocked, Nebraska is as far away from the sea as you could imagine. Somewhere within Omaha however is home to the Henry Doorly…
Awesome Fish Spotlight: Who took a tuka and made it pascalus?
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but the hiatus ends today with another Awesome Fish Spotlight. This time we feature not one, but two species as we draw attention to Pseudanthias pascalus and Pseudanthias tuka. While looking superficially similar and rather…
Midweek Misnomer: Plectranthias (Zalanthias) azumanus vs Plectranthias (Zalanthias) kelloggi
This week’s Midweek Misnomer addresses the confusion between two Plectranthias species. Again with Plectranthias. We’re just having a good jive with the genus recently and the past three fish posts from me have been about this. The misidentification of various…
Plectranthias yamakawai debuts in the market at Remix Japan
Besides having a knack for creative LFS names, the Japanese are also highly skilled in obtaining crazy fish, many of which are unlikely to register in the minds of the day to day hobbyist. Japanese fish store Remix has just obtained…
Undescribed Plectranthias from Papua shows up in Bangkok, Thailand
If there’s a genus we love more than or equal to Liopropoma here at Reef Builders, it’s got to be Plectranthias. Unfortunately, Plectranthias is poorly reviewed and the genus is riddled with numerous undescribed members which leads to confusion in identifying various species. To make…
Opulent Osaka Part 4: A BlueHarbor tribute, and the man behind the brand
We’ve come to our last and final installation of our four part Osaka travelogue. If you’ve been following parts 1, 2 and 3, we hope you’ve enjoyed it, and thank you for exploring some of Osaka’s most opulent reef keepers…