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…

What’s in a name?

Scientists are often pretty whimsical in their own way when it comes to describing a new species for science. To the undiscerning amateur like us, we may find scientific names cumbersome, made up of an unpronounceable mass of consonants with an unearthly…

Prognathodes: more than meets the Aya

The following is a guest contribution from Joe Oliver, a resident Marine Biologist for the Curacao Sea Aquarium and Substation Curacao. The Banks Butterflyfish (Prognathodes aya) and its relative the French or Three-Banded Butterflyfish (Prognathodes guyanensis), are both striking deepwater butterflyfish that…

Pearl of The Orient: Mr Wong’s butterflyfish collection

When it comes to the rare fish game, there are only two players that immediately come to mind. Hong Kong and Japan. Together these two are undeniably the largest absorbers of rare fish, and have been consistently spitting out amazing specimens…

Reef Nuggets 2: Aquatic Lepidopterans for your reef (Revised edition)

In our previous episode of Reef Nuggets, we explored our options for peaceful and lesser known damselfish to add a little spark of colour and life to our aquariums. Having vanquished the hateful stereotype that not all damsels are malevolent and…

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…

Keeping butterflyfish in reefs: What to look out for and what to avoid

Butterflyfish are the quintessential reef inhabitant. Take a look at any coral reef picture, video, documentary, poster, you name it. There’s a high chance a colourful butterfly is flitting around there somewhere. The same is not to be said in…

BlueHarbor’s current inventory is brimming with the rarest reef fish

From the Southern Pacific to Curacao to Hawaii and homeland Japan, BlueHarbor never looked so amazing this week with what could be the most intense collection of fish ever at any one time. Just when we think the man in…

Biology of Butterflyfishes, a new book focused on the beautiful Chaetodontidae

Biology of Butterflyfishes is an exciting new book which will bring some much deserved knowledge and information about this charismatic group of iconic reef fish. In the marine aquarium world, the marine angelfishes get their lion’s share of the spotlight,…

Juvenile Scythe Butterflyfish photographed in the Catalina Islands for the first time

The Scythe Butterflyfish (Prognathodes falcifer) is a member of  the “long-nosed” butterflies from the genus Prognathodes. Many of the species are Atlantic in distribution, and all feature a pointed snout with exaggerated dorsal fin spikes. All the Prognathodes butterflies are gorgeous…