Awesome Fish Spotlight: Roa excelsa

Roa excelsa is a unique deepwater butterflyfish that is part of a very interesting genus of reef fish. The Excelsa butterflyfish has three sibling species including Roa modesta, Roa jayakari and the fairly new Roa australis. We’ve featured the modest butterflyfish,…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: Valenciennea helsdingenii

Chances of bumping into cool fish increases exponentially when you’re out and about marauding the various Balinese wholesale facilities. Picking out a truly rare gem amidst a swathing plague of reef fish requires a keen eye and an innate intuition. That…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: The scarlet Synchiropus

Synchiropus is an immaculate genus famed for the unorthodox juxtaposition between cute and freaky. With frog like faces, huge bulging eyes and pursed lips, coupled with their undulating fin movements, they make for a highly peculiar animal. In the aquarium context, few species illicit…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: Zebrasoma xanthurum, the Purple Tang

It’s been some time since we last featured an Awesome Fish Spotlight, and what better way to continue than with an evergreen aquarium favourite from a well loved genus. Zebrasoma is without a doubt the blue eyed boy of the…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: Cirrhilabrus rubrimarginatus in nuptial display

Today’s Awesome Fish Spotlight features an opulent member of the wildly popular genus Cirrhilabrus, more affectionally known as the Fairy Wrasses. Cirrhilabrus rubrimarginatus is a common species with a wide distribution across much of the Western Pacific, from Japan through…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: Pseudojuloides kaleidos, in all its beautiful forms

Of all the labrids that enter the trade, none are quite as refreshing and unorthodox as Pseudojuloides. Wrasses are social butterflies that are found in haremic groups. usually of a single male and multiple females. As such, maintaining a species of…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: Steinhart’s studly Genicanthus lamarck

Like the insanely beautiful traffic cone coloured male Genicanthus semifasciatus in the Dallas Aquarium, Steinhart in the California Academy of Science has its own studly Genicanthus to boast. G. lamarck is a common species with a rather large distribution in…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: Solar Flare, the hypomelanistic flame angelfish

This is the first time we’re featuring an aberrant fish for Awesome Fish Spotlight, and today’s featured fish is a hypomelanistic flame angel. Unlike many of the funky koi mutations which often manifest as unusual and unknown transient colour changes,…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: Who took a tuka and made it pascalus?

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but the hiatus ends today with another Awesome Fish Spotlight. This time we feature not one, but two species as we draw attention to Pseudanthias pascalus and Pseudanthias tuka. While looking superficially similar and rather…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: Prismatic Tosanoides flavofasciatus

A throwback to our final Osaka review saw us mentioning briefly the incredible prismatic beauty of Tosanoides flavofasciatus. Like Liopropoma aurora, this species, especially this particular specimen is deserving of a full and separate post to really showcase its beauty and…