After so many years enjoying and looking forward to the coral feature articles that Jake Adams wrote and Vincent Chalias still writes for Reef Builders, I came across a coral that inspired me to want to compose a gushing, over…
The New Octocorallia: Malacalcyonacea Part 1
In our previous review of octocoral classification, we saw that anywhere from 3–8 orders have traditionally been used to organize this group’s bewildering biodiversity, based on morphological assumptions of increasing complexity within the evolutionary history of these corals. It was…
Jasmine Coral is a great soft coral for beginners
If you want a super easy soft coral for a low-maintenance tank, a nano, or a beginner tank, then look no further than the Jasmine Coral, Knopia octocontacanalis. The Jasmine is the only member of the genus Knopia and was…
10 new soft corals described from New Zealand
Ten new species of soft coral have been discovered in New Zealand by a marine biologist. The new species were found by Gustav Kessel among tens of thousands of preserved specimens housed at the NIWA Invertebrate Collection in Wellington, the…
Erythropodium taoyuanensis, a New Soft Coral Discovered in Taiwan
Erythropodium taoyuanensis is a new species of encrusting octocoral that was discovered from algal bed of Taiwan in the west Pacific Ocean. The newly described octocoral from Taiwan is not much a looker as far as corals go being what…
Sympodium Grows by a Whopping Seven New Species
The vast majority of our generic coral ‘bandwidth’ is focused at the Scleractinian stony corals and to a lesser degree at corallimorphs and zoanthids with very little fanfare for too much else. But as we’ve said repeatedly every time we…
Serene ‘Softscape’ Reef Aquarium by Aquarium Design Group
Aquascaping is a term that gets thrown around all sides of the aquarium ‘chloride divide’ but when it comes to putting the principles into practice, coral reefers can hardly touch the execution and presentation of nature aquarium gardeners. Part of…
‘Xenia’ is Unsurprisingly Taking Over Venezuelan Reefs
‘Xenia elongata’, recently reclassified as Unomia stolonifera, is a soft coral that is well known in the aquarium hobby for its supernatural growth rates in reef tanks. This fleshy octocoral is so prolific that it has been used in dedicated…
In Memorium: Octocoral taxonomist Dr. Leen P. van Ofwegen
On June 25th, 2021, one of the preeminent octocoral taxonomists, Dr. Leen P. van Ofwegen of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, passed away. Though his name may not be immediately familiar to the average aquarist or diver, his impact on our…
Updates and Lessons Learned From Our 90 Gallon Reef Tank
As the days get shorter heading into winter we’re even more excited to come home to a bright tropical reef tank. Earlier this year we picked up a seven-year-old 90gallon reef tank and all the hard work we’ve put in…
