A new range extension for Chaetodon burgessi in the Coral Sea

The family Chaetodontidae is well represented by ten genera. Of which, the most populous Chaetodon is home to several subgenera, one of which is the eternally fascinating Roaops. This small subgenus comprises of five handsome species, including the dapper, monochromatic Chaetodon…

1.2 Fairy Wrasses: The lunatus group

Cirrhilabrus johnsoni was first described in 1988 based on specimens collected in the Marshall and Caroline islands. This small species served as the twentieth member of a rapidly expanding genus, and was decidedly different with a crescent shaped caudal fin adorned…

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…

Reef Builders x Cairns Marine: A visit to the facility

If you’ve been following our recent posts and our Facebook updates judiciously, you’d know that we had the greatest pleasure of visiting Cairns Marine and their wonderful team just a few weeks back. Apart from touring the facility and seeing how…

Digiman revisits BlueHarbor and closes 2013 with a spectacular bang

We are closing this year with one last travel story and it’s contributed again by rare fish expert Digiman from Singapore. Following up on his Hong Kong trip, Digiman visited Japan as a final pit stop to his year end…

Not True To Name – a variation of the red tailed flasher wrasse, Paracheilinus rubricaudalis, found on the GBR

The Flasher Wrasses, like their cousins the Fairy Wrasses, epitomize what a great, reef-safe marine fish really is. One of the newest species on the block, Paracheilinus rubricaudalis or the Redtailed Flasher Wrasse described by Randall and Allen in 2003,…

New version of Kuiter’s wrasse bible ‘Labridae Fishes’ now available for a whole lot less

Despite its original $300+ price tag Rudie Kuiter managed to sell quite a few copies of his fabulous compendium on wrasses, Labridae Fishes. The hardbound work of devotion to wrasses has over 400 A4 pages covering more than 500 species…

Sea Dwelling Creatures brings rare Bodianus paraleucosticticus to America

The five stripe hogfish, Bodianus paraleucosticticus, is an amazing and rare hogfish which very rarely graces American soil. Recently, Cairns Marine out of Australia has been making more regular excursions to the Coral Sea to get exotic reef fish such as the five-striped…

2.1 Fairy Wrasses: The scottorum group

Moving away from the first major Cirrhilabrus clade, we explore the various species groups that differ by having larger and longer pelvic fins. The scottorum group is a small conglomeration of two confirmed species, one of which is highly polychromatic…

The dwarf pintail fairy wrasses are finally coming

There are two pintail fairy wrasses, the large Cirrhilabrus lanceolatus usually from Japan and the smaller Cirrhilabrus cf. lanceolatus which is known from Japan and the northern Philippines. In regards to the smaller dwarf pintail, this is an undescribed species sometimes referred…