The Coolest Hawaiian reef fish get visually checklisted in this Kure dive video

Hawaii is renowned for its endemism which extends from the land down to the deep reefs. It’s been a while since we’ve posted a really good dive video featuring some rare fish so you can be certain that this one…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: Roa excelsa

Roa excelsa is a unique deepwater butterflyfish that is part of a very interesting genus of reef fish. The Excelsa butterflyfish has three sibling species including Roa modesta, Roa jayakari and the fairly new Roa australis. We’ve featured the modest butterflyfish,…

Hawaii’s reefs gets photographed for Google Street View

First the Great Barrier Reef, then Florida and now Hawaii is getting the Google Street View love. According to a recent Associated Press report, Hawaii’s reefs are getting mapped as part of a larger project by the XL Catlin Seaview…

Newly described black coral is one of the oldest living animals in the world

Leiopathes annosa is a new species of deep sea black coral that was recently discovered living on the seafloor around the waters of Hawaii and the Papahanaumokuakea marine national monument. In addition to being a new and previously unknown species, the…

Centropyge abei and Chaetodon smithi: Black and yellow superstars of Waikiki

If you ever visit Hawaii and don’t stop by the Waikiki aquarium, consider yourself a felon and a convicted criminal for breaking the fish geek code. In a small public aquarium within the Waikiki neighbourhood of Honolulu lives two mega superstars of…

Hawaii anti-aquarium legislation being reconsidered TODAY

An amended HB 873HD1 regulating the aquarium fishery will be heard by Committee on Judiciary on Friday at 3:00 p.m. in the State Capitol’s Conference Room 325. Testimony must be received by the Committee no later than 3:00 p.m. Thursday,…

The hobby needs your help to prevent a trio of sour laws in Hawaii

It’s never a pleasant affair to hear of yet another new law being proposed to shutter the aquarium hobby but today we really need action from all of you. A trio of laws being proposed in Hawaii will go into…

Wes Shinego documents the shallow reef life of Hawaii one instagram post at a time

Reef culture and social media may not be the likeliest of pairings, but it’s safe to say that in recent years the movement toward a more internet savvy environment has definitely taken a footing. You’re now hard pressed to find wholesalers or…

6 great iPhone applications for identifying and learning about reef fish

If you’re one of the 10 million people who got a shiny new iPhone 6 this weekend, or just happen to have a shiny slab of computing power that fits in your pocket, you should really take advantage of it…

“Holy Grail” Angelfish Bred in Captivity

Certain marine fish are so uncommon in the aquarium hobby yet so beautiful to behold that they fetch an absolutely mind-blowing price (sometimes in the many thousands of dollars for a single specimen) when they do make a rare appearance…