Anthias are a diverse group of quintessential pink and yellow marine fish which occur from the tropical shallows to the cold water depths of our seas. Many species of anthias are quite common and cheap, making great and hardy aquarium…
Luiz’s Snapshots: Odontanthias katayamai In Pohnpei
If you’ve read Reef Builders for any length of time then you know that in order to find the rarest, most colorful and interesting fish, you have to dive deep. Like really deep. That and be Dr. Luiz Rocha or one of…
Borbonius Anthias Captive Bred By Biota Palau
Biota Palau is no stranger to being first to captive breed some popular tropical marine fish and the Borbonius anthias is the latest species to be added to their catalog. Their captive bred mandarins have revolutionized the experience of keeping…
Captive Raised Hawaiian Yellow Anthias Are Quite The Stunners
Karen Brittain has been quietly breeding some very exciting fish in Hawaii for the last few years. She brought us a big batch of captive bred personatus angelfish, a batch of bandit angelfish yielded some novel ‘ghost bandit’ angels, and…
Odontanthias cauoh is a new anthias species from Brazil
Odontanthias cauoh is a new species of deepwater anthias hailing from the São Pedro and São Paulo archipelago of Brazil. Odontanthias cauoh is the second member of this genus to be described from the Tropical Atlantic Ocean, bringing the total number of described Odontanthias species…
Guyote butterflyfish and many other sightings by Okeanos deep sea ROV
Prognathodes guyotensis, the uber rare Guyote Butterflyfish is the pinnacle of a whole suite of awesome deepwater animals that have been documented over the last week. The Okeanos Explorer is an ROV expedition by NOAA that has been live-streaming its…
First Odontanthias randalli collected in South Java
Randall’s deepwater anthias first came to our attention a scant five years ago when the Original description of Odontanthias randalli was published. With that intro of the new anthias species, all we got was one lousy picture of a very colorful fish.…
Fluorescent Friday – Reef fish edition
Coral reefs are one of the most richly fluorescent ecosystems on the planet. When it comes to fluorescence, most of us reef aquarists tend to think of corals first, but many of the tropical reef fish in your tanks right…
A Mauritian gem residing in Japan
As the metonymic dust begins to settle after our whirlwind tour of Japan, it becomes increasingly clear that this country is without a doubt, the capital mecca for rare fish and all things associated. With lolita inspired fashion and crazy pop…
Brian Greene, Richard Pyle and Sonia Rowley teases with a surfeit of undescribed species from Pohnpei
To the uninitiated, the mesophotic coral reefs would seem like an unlikely place to find vibrant fish life. Antonymous to the ebullient habitat of shallow water coral gardens, the mesophotic zone is a gloomy contrast of seemingly endless dread and forlorn landscapes. Except not…