The Indonesian Coral Trade is Business As Usual

We all know now, that after mariculture corals were re-opened at the beginning of the year, wild coral collection was also re-opened right after. We can now enjoy a complete supply of corals from Indonesia, like back in the old…

Euphyllia baliensis, the Holy Grail Quest!

It’s been over eight years since the small polyp Euphyllia baliensis was described from the deep waters around the Indonesian Island of Bali. It’s also been around eight years that we’ve been searching for this coral, pushing the limits of…

Unusual Corals In Lembeh Strait

Lembeh Strait The Lembeh Strait is a holy grail amongst scuba divers. This relatively small channel of water is home to the highest concentration of crazy critters known anywhere under the sea. Scuba divers from around the world flock to…

Saint Patrick’s Snake Polyps Are The Craziest Zoanthids Ever!

Just in time for St. Patrick’s day, we’ve come across a fantastic colony of snake polyps that totally knocked our socks off. These wildly colored orange and green Isaurus snake polyps are unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, despite being a…

6-headed Cynarina is a freak of nature

Cynarina lacrymalis, ‘modern corals’ or whatever the scientists and cool kids are calling them these days, are one of the longstanding popular corals in the aquarium hobby today. Coming in shades of pink, red, green, brown and all colors in…

The coral tree of life is being rewritten one LPS at a time

Warning: the following is a nerdgasm of coral taxonomy, guest-written by Joe Rowlett, one of the many talented fish geeks working the fish tanks at Old Town Aquarium in Chicago.  Historically, corals have often been grouped at the genus and family level based…

Funky new little ‘Mini Scolie’ now coming in from West Australia

One of the coolest new things spotted at MACNA this year was not necessarily the products, but a treasure trove of colorful “Mini Scolies” from West Australia. New fish species are discovered on an almost daily basis but it’s very…

Julian Sprung speaks on coral and fish hybridization

Mr. Julian Sprung was rather coy about the topic of his MACNA-opening presentation but the mystery seems to have built a fair amount of buzz. As we type, Julian is speaking on how the web of life is interconnected and…