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…

3.1 Fairy Wrasses: The rubrimarginatus group

The rubrimarginatus group is home to some of the most well-known (and well-loved) of the Fairy Wrasses. The group can be divided rather equally into two clades, each with their own separate diagnostic features. The males attain fairly large sizes,…

2.3 Fairy Wrasses: The exquisitus complex

Cirrhilabrus exquisitus is an unusually widespread and variable species which appears to form a lineage alongside the scottorum and cyanopleura groups, with all three sharing characteristically mid-length pelvic fins. Unlike any other species of Cirrhilabrus, the Exquisite Fairy Wrasse has…

Is Japan really home to any endemic Fairy Wrasses? Cirrhilabrus katoi disagrees

The reefs of Japan are known to harbour unique fauna found nowhere else on this earth. Rife with endemics, species such as Centropyge interrupta, Chaetodon daedalma, Genicanthus takeuchii, Chromis mirationis and a whole hodgepodge of other reef fish call this…

Proaquatix’s new captive-bred Jackknife Fish: Why you need them!

On June 16, 2015, Proaquatix officially released the news that they’ve successfully spawned and reared the Jackknife Fish, Equetus lanceolatus (see the press release and additional images at the end of this article). This isn’t a species first; captive-breeding of the Jack-Knifefish was…

2.2 Fairy Wrasses: The cyanopleura group

The cyanopleura group is the next collection of fairy wrasses from the second major Cirrhilabrus clade (whose member taxa share the trait of mid-length pelvic fins) and is sister to the scottorum group. In the latter, certain traits that were diagnostic to the members will be…

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…

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…

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…

0.0 Fairy Wrasses: A review of the genus Cirrhilabrus

Fairy wrasses are some of the most ubiquitous fishes in the marine aquarium trade, which is why it may come as a surprise to learn that the group has never received a serious taxonomic review. The scientific literature is filled…