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…

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…

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…

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…

Incredibly rare Cirrhilabrus hybrid from RVS FishWorld lands in Iwarna Aquafarm, Singapore

The amazing wrasse pictured above is an incredibly rare fusion between two already rare species. The yet to be described Pintail fairy wrasse (Cirrhilabrus cf. lanceolatus) and the also difficult to obtain Crescent tail fairy wrasse (C. lunatus) sometimes hybridizes…

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,…

Top 20 new reef fish species of 2012

Every year we look forward to all kinds of new corals, reef fish and products in the marine aquarium hobby but 2012 was an especially rich year for new taxa of various bony reef fish. Like most years we saw…