Sea Cucumber Pretends It’s A Coral

Sometimes it seems like every creature living on a coral reef has at least one species which mimics it. Take, for instance, this juvenile sea cucumber, Thelenota ananas, which has mastered the art of being Pocillopora. Question is… can it…

Omegophora pufferfish appears in Japan

In our recent article on rare dogface pufferfishes, we were able to cover every species except for the one which inspired the article. The image below is of an Australian pufferfish which has recently made its way to Blue Harbor in Japan,…

A selection of Echinophyllia chalice corals from the Solomon Islands

As far as the hobby is concerned, nearly all of the stupid-awesome colored chalice corals are basically only found in Indonesia. Australia throws out some winners here and there but by and large, Indo is where it’s at when it…

Cyphastrea kausti, a new stony coral species from the Red Sea

Cyphastrea kausti is a newly described species from the Red Sea, present in the central and northern parts but seemingly absent from the south end of the Red Sea. The new species C. kausti is readily distinguished from all other species of Cyphastrea…

Marine Aquarium Decorations: Tacky, Tasteful, or Somewhere In-Between?

I’ve always favored very naturalistic aquariums, so when an acquaintance recently asked me what I think about using decorations in saltwater systems, my immediate response (more or less) was that I find them tacky and cringe-worthy and that corals and…

Neon green Psammocora discovered living as a rollolith in Australia

A couple of neon green Psammocora have just been discovered to be living unattached, as free living coral colonies known as ‘rolloliths’. Psammocora is just the latest stony coral genus to be documented living as a rollolith, a growth form in…

Pair of rare orange Cantharellus imported from Fiji

Cantharellus is a genus of Fungiid coral that you’ve probably never heard of, but which is actually kind of really common and widespread on reefs around the world. Whereas the majority of disc corals that we get for our aquariums…

Reef Gen’s New Lemon Lime Goniopora is absolutely delish

The Reef Gen Lemon Lime Goniopora is a sweet looking flowerpot coral the company is releasing very soon. Reef Gen’s Justin Credible has been toying with this and other goniopora’s for years and it shows in the vibrant coloration and neat…

Plating Astreopora randalli discovered in a green-splattered color morph

Over the last couple of years we’ve had the distinct great privilege of visiting exotic coral reefs, many of which have never been seen by divers, or at least visitors with such a strong focus on the corals that actually…

Manhattan Aquariums installs gravity-defying coral art at new Carnegie exhibit

There’s a new coral aquarium exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art that shows corals in a very dramatic and unusual way. The installation features corals arranged and affixed to a “reef” in the shape of a large ‘E3’ as…