Most aquarium hobbyists in the United States today have never seen hard coral from Palau. Palau’s national congress passed the Marine Protection Act of 1994 which restricted hard coral exports, and starting in 1997, the MPA stated that only citizens…
Palau Acropora Start Trickling in from Biota
With our ever present fixation on truly unique corals, we’re always looking for new, rare, uncommon and exotic species and strains of corals, especially the small polyp stony corals. Some people seek ‘rare’ corals with blue light, orange glasses and…
Biota Palau Acquires Rare Abei Angelfish Broodstock!
The Abei Angelfish is one of the rarest and most elusive species of pygmy angelfish in the world. The very few specimens ever collected, mostly out of Australia, sold for astronomical, five-digit sums but a trio of recently collected specimens…
Palau Once Again Has the Largest Giant Clam Farm in the World
Giant clams are some of the most enigmatic creatures both on the reef, and in the aquarium. Over the years we’ve written countless stories about the multitude of species of Tridacna and Hippopus from all over the world, culminating with a visit to…
Prognathodes geminus is the Newest Species of Butterflyfish
Prognathodes geminus is the newest species of butterflyfish from a genus that haunts the abyssal depths of the oceans. Closely related to Prognathodes guezei and P. basabei, the new ‘Gemini’ butterflyfish is so named for its very close resemblance to other members…
Tosanoides annepatrice Described from Pohnpei & Palau
Tosanoides annepatrice is the newest member of this colorful deepwater genus of anthias that come hardly a week on the heels of another new inductee, Tosanoides aphrodite. But where that species was a huge surprise due to being found in…
Transport Yourself to a Natural Reef in Palau’s Rock Islands
The reef aquarium hobby has grown so much, and become so successful at growing corals, that we’ve become far removed from what natural corals and reefs look like. One the one hand it’s nice to be self-sufficient from wild harvests…
Support Clam Restoration by Watson Mariculture Palau
We’re not the biggest softies when it comes to fundraiser but today we want to share a very special cause with you. Watson Mariculture has been culturing giant clams in Palau for decades, with Thomas Watson being one of the…
Standout Acropora & SPS Corals of Palau
As a hobby that loves and appreciates live corals, all of which originate from wild coral reefs, I don’t think we are nearly in touch with what wild corals are really like. To bridge this gap we try and travel…
Three New Species of Cryptic Zoanthids
There’s a whole wide world of zoanthids that the aquarium hobby never sees, quite literally because they live in very cryptic areas, in caves, and otherwise try to blend in. The genus Antipathozoanthus is very unique because nearly species are…
