SECORE is in full swing blogging about the Curacao coral spawning

Another summer season is nearing a close and in the Northern Hemisphere, that means that stony corals are getting horny; elkhorn and staghorn that is. For the last several years, the pre-eminent authority on capturing and rearing coral larvae, SECORE,…

NOAA designates 6,500 square miles of Critical Habitat to protect Caribbean Corals

NOAA Fisheries has published a final rule to designate critical habitat for five species of Caribbean coral under the US Endangered Species Act. Effective from September 8, 2023, 28 mostly overlapping areas in US waters will be designated Critical Habitat,…

Invasive Pulsing Xenia Wreaks Havoc in Venezuela

A popular aquarium coral has reached plague proportions off the North coast of Venezuela, threatening ecosystems and even decreasing native fish stocks, as it invades and overgrows everything in its path. We know it in the aquarium trade as Pulsing…

Gilmorei is the first Polylepion wrasse to be found in the Atlantic

A new species of small, deep-water wrasse has been described from the Atlantic Ocean. Members of the Polylepion genus have previously been restricted to the Indian and Pacific Oceans but this one, named Polylepion gilmorei after Grant Gilmore, formerly of…

Scientists Find Potential Probiotic Treatment for SCTLD

Researchers at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History have discovered a probiotic treatment for stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). We’ve reported on the disease many times since its discovery in 2014 in Florida, including most recently that it…

Birdsongichthys rectus and Robinsichthys nigrimarginatus are two new deepwater gobies from the Caribbean

Two new gobies have been collected and described from deep waters in the Caribbean Sea. New species Robinsichthys nigrimarginatus becomes only the second member of the genus Robinsichthys, while Birdsongichthys rectus is given both new genus and new species status. …

We Finally Got Our Hands on the Brazilian Flameback Angelfish

The Brazilian Flameback Angelfish, Centropyge aurantonotus, is one of the two species of pygmy angelfish in the Caribbean but the common ‘pygmy’ angelfish is infinitely more common in the aquarium hobby. This fish looks quite similar to the African flameback angelfish,…

Chromis vanbebberae: The White Tail Reef Fish Gets Elevated to Full Species

Chromis vanbebberae is a brand new species of damselfish that was described at the end of last year and finally puts a name to a fish we’ve long had on our radar. This curious smaller Chromis has been known for some…

Parazoanthus atlanticus is a new species of Yellow Polyp from the Dutch Caribbean

The biodiversity of the Dutch Caribbean has been studied for 250 years, but most records of Zoantharians don’t go much beyond the genus level or are grouped into generic catch-all species despite being common. A group of zoantharian specialists from Japan and the Netherlands has sought to change that by collecting and DNA testing new specimens as well as reexamining huge numbers of historic records and data of species collected and described from the area.

Teachers Register Your Class! Coral Live Broadcasting From CARMABI

Connect your classroom with Explorers Live CARMABI Research Station, Curaçao. Coral Live is an interactive classroom experience, bringing learning and science to life. Coral Live 2018 is the 3rd annual event immersing classrooms around the world in ocean science. Registration is…