An article published in the Journal Nature has found that mesophotic corals may use their fluorescence to lure and capture zooplankton. In the past, fluorescence has been linked to many factors from screening harmful radiation to facilitating photosynthesis in corals,…
Search Results For: mesophotic
Trimma panemorfum, a Gorgeous New Goby Species from Palau
Trimma panemorfum is the new official name of the beautiful and strikingly patterned goby photographed in Palau way back in 2016. The colorful new Trimma goby was first seen by Dr. Richard Pyle as far back as 1997 but the first…
Coris flava, a New Species of Large Wrasse from Réunion
Coris flava is a new species of large wrasse from Réunion in the western Indian Ocean which belongs to a genus that we thought had been well documented already. Unlike other species of Coris wrasses, the new ‘Yellow Coris’ has…
Pseudanthias hangapiko, A New Anthias Species from Easter Island
Pseudanthias hangapiko is a new species of anthias from the South Pacific region of Rapa Nui, better known as Easter Island. The hangapiko anthias was discovered way back in 2017 during an expedition to explore the mesophotic reefs of Easter…
Is This Coral Pocillopora acuta or a Hybrid with Seriatopora?
Hybrid reef animals are a very common sighting and it is especially well documented in the marine angelfish, clownfish, butterflyfish, surgeonfish, and basically many different families of fish but it is much less well documented or studied among the corals.…
NPS Leptoseris Found in Underwater Caves of the Indian Ocean
Leptoseris was once a completely overlooked group of corals in the aquarium world but recent years have seen an explosion of appreciation for these low light corals. Over the years reef builders have come to understand that these plating and encrusting…
Pseudojuloides pluto and proserpina are two new pencil wrasses from Micronesia and the Marquesan islands
Prolific Ph.D. candidate Yi Kai Tea (Lemon Tyk) has published papers on not just two but four new species of Pencil wrasse this week. Pseudojuloides crux and P.paradiseus are now being joined by P.pluto and P.proserpina, taking the total number of Pencil Wrasse species to 18.
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.
A Glimpse Into Cold Water Coral Reefs Around Iceland
Thanks to the help of scientific ROV’s, we are not getting a glimpse into this deep dark alien world of Icelandic reefs. These corals live in complete darkness below the mesophotic zone at a depth of 600 – 2,000ft, (200-600…
Surprising Growth Rates Found In Deep Water Leptoseris Coral
New research published in the journal Coral Reefs revealed unexpectedly high growth rates for deep water photosynthetic coral. The study measured growth rates of deep water Leptoseris corals in Hawaii and found growth rates between 1in – 0.3in or (25mm – 7.5mm)…
