An introduction to coral crabs, good and bad

There is surprisingly little information specifically about coral crabs in aquaria.  Every now and then some hitchhikers arrive on our aquacultured and wild corals and we are able to gain a bit more insight into the life of coral crabs. Some crabs…

Petco and PetSmart begin talks in a possible merger

Petco and PatSmart are the two largest chain of full-line pet stores in the United States, together accounting for about 30% of sales of pet products in this country. Now the two companies are in the very beginning of talks…

My musings from MACNA

As usual MACNA meant so many corals and friends and equipment but so little time. Due to family commitments I was only able to spend Saturday in DC at MACNA, but it was a well-spent 8 hours. As usual, the…

2.3 Fairy Wrasses: The exquisitus complex

Cirrhilabrus exquisitus is an unusually widespread and variable species which appears to form a lineage alongside the scottorum and cyanopleura groups, with all three sharing characteristically mid-length pelvic fins. Unlike any other species of Cirrhilabrus, the Exquisite Fairy Wrasse has…

2.1 Fairy Wrasses: The scottorum group

Moving away from the first major Cirrhilabrus clade, we explore the various species groups that differ by having larger and longer pelvic fins. The scottorum group is a small conglomeration of two confirmed species, one of which is highly polychromatic…

1.4 Fairy Wrasses: The bathyphilus group

The bathyphilus group, despite being a very small congregation, is by no means any less interesting or provocative compared to its congeners. In 1997 during the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference held in New Caledonia, five unidentified specimens of Cirrhilabrus were brought…

Orange tongue coral is sporting a rainbow of extra color

From this simple picture alone, this is probably one of the most exquisite tongue corals we have ever seen. Sent to us by Eye Catching Coral, the image of this already-rare orange morph of the tongue coral, Herpolitha limax, is double…

Heading to the Solomon Islands to find all the corals & fish

There’s something utterly surreal about being in Fiji as we write this, not at the final destination, but having a layover to even more exotic corals and genera coral reef diversity. We are headed to Honiara, Solomon Islands with a small…

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,…

Consumers still protesting Petco / Drs. Foster Smith deal

Now that it’s been several months of Petco’s acquisition of Drs. Foster & Smith and their famous Live Aquaria division the Internet has  and is still crying out in protest of the deal. Every major social network has been slammed…