NOAA is back to wowing us with incredible images of marine life from the deep sea with the latest Okeanos expedition. The first mission of the year is a series of deep dives with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) exploring the…
Plectranthias
Plectranthias takasei, a gorgeous new species of basslet from Japan
Plectranthias takasei is the newest species of reef fish to be described and what a fantastic new fish it is. This attractive ‘Hinomaru Perchlet’ also has the honor of being described by some serious fish nerds, including the Ichthyologist formerly known…
Top 15 new reef fish species of 2015
This has been a very big year for new fish species, both described and discovered. Normally we finish up each year with a ‘Top 10’ new species but 2015 was so well endowed with fish being inducted into the hall…
Plectranthias winniensis & P. helenae captive raised by RCT Hawaii
Plectranthias winniensis and P. helenae are two species of this adorable group of basslets that grace the pages of Reef Builders today for very good reason. Reef Culture Technologies Hawaii has been trailblazing the captive rearing of various marine fish…
Plectranthias sp. Curacao is in the good hands of Blue Harbor
The new species of Plectranthias that was recently collected from Curacao is probably the first of its kind to make it into a home aquarium. We first featured this fish with a post from Joe Oliver at the source, and…
Curacao Sea Aquarium Deep Sea Display update
After 4 years in Curacao and some of the most amazing fishes known to man, I thought I had seen it all and was beginning to have doubts about whether we would find a new species that is as unique…
Okayama’s “Liopropoma boss” shows us how he got that name
We’re at the penultimate last leg of our recent Japanese tour recount, and if you’re just following, be sure to check out the previous parts here, here, here, here and here. We’ve toured Osaka and the surrounding Kansai region extensively…
Plectranthias bennetti, a new species of anthiine from the Coral Sea
The anthiine genus Plectranthias contains over fifty species of small to medium sized benthic, reef dwelling species. With the exception of P. garrupellus in the Western Atlantic, the genus is restricted to the Indo-Pacific region. Most species are small, highly secretive, and…
A BlueHarbor bounty
Sometimes the hardest things in life isn’t about writing a captivating blog post, but coming up with a suitable title. Don’t let this curt, three worded headline fool you though. We’ve blogged about BlueHarbor’s cornucopia of rare fish so often…
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…