Decompressing marine fish from the deep reefs of Curacao

The following is a guest contribution from Joe Oliver, a resident Marine Biologist for the Curacao Sea Aquarium and Substation Curacao. As an aquarist (hobbyist or professional) there is a huge array of fishes available as possible options when it comes…

Symphysanodon katayamai is a beautiful slopefish that is almost unknown in the trade

Many deepwater reef fish don’t get enough air time simply because they live so deep and are hard to find. One such fish is Symphysanodon katayamai, or the yellow striped slopefish. Symphysanodon is a genus comprising of about a dozen…

Pseudanthias flavicauda sighted in tahiti, with video of its habitat

Pseudanthias flavicauda aka the yellow tailed anthias is a juicy colorful species of anthias which is rarely ever seen in the aquarium trade. First described in Fiji, Pseudanthias flavicauda was recently collected in the Coral Sea by Cairns Marine and now…

Ultra Rare Fish Alert: First live photos of Chromis struhsakeri and Bodianus bathycapros

Robert Whitton is a renowned underwater videographer and naturalist, and is currently working in the ichthyological department of natural sciences as a research assosiate at the Bishop Museum in Hawaii. Robert runs a blog called Explorer’s Log where he documents…

Behind the face of LiveAquaria – Kevin Kohen’s fish collection part 3

We’ve come to the final installation of our three part mini series featuring the private fish collection of Kevin Kohen. This last post covers Kevin’s nano tank, so it won’t be a long post as there aren’t many fish in…

Behind the face of LiveAquaria – Kevin Kohen’s fish collection part 1

Any saltwater hobbyist worth his salt or doesn’t live under a rock surely knows about LiveAquaria. On this post MACNA trip, we managed to visit their facility and caught up with Kevin Kohen, the man behind the company. Seeing as we’ve already covered…

California Academy of Sciences dive team is scoring big in the depths of the Philippines

After what has been a lengthy period of preparation, scouting and diving, the California Academy of Sciences’ expedition to the Philippines is beginning to yield a nice catch of truly exotic deep reef fish. The first notable catch of the…

Pseudanthias calloura makes an unexpected resurgence after a long hiatus

Pseudanthias calloura is widely known for its rarity as well as its beauty. It’s scarcity in the trade has promoted this species to the top of many wish lists, only to bring disappointment to said list makers. Commonly known as…

Barry Brown updates with more deepwater Curacao treasures including an undescribed Decodon

Barry Brown is an avid underwater photographer that has spent the last decade or so documenting fish and other marvellous creatures in Curacao, and is working with the Smithsonian Institution in documenting new species from the deep waters of the…

The Blunt-nosed Basslet is a perfect Caribbean curiosity for your deepwater tank

Bullisicthys caribbaeus is a remarkably cute fish from the deep waters of the Caribbean that is worth taking a second look. Not often is the word cute used to describe a fish, but the blunt-nosed or pug-nosed basslet is certainly cute,…