Cirrhilabrus apterygia, the Mutant Comes Home to the Fairy Wrasses

Cirrhilabrus apterygia is the new name for a fish that’s been known to science for many years, but is so bizarre that one of its common names is the mutant wrasse. First described as Conniella apterygia in 1983 this particular wrasse…

Cirrhilabrus aquamarinus & C. chaliasi, Two Classic Fairy Wrasses Get Properly Described

Cirrhilabrus chaliasi and C. aquamarinus are two newly described species of fairy wrasses but while the names might be new, the species themselves are actually well known to saltwater aquarists. We can’t hep but feel a sense of pride that…

Pseudojuloides pluto and proserpina are two new pencil wrasses from Micronesia and the Marquesan islands

Prolific Ph.D. candidate Yi Kai Tea (Lemon Tyk) has published papers on not just two but four new species of Pencil wrasse this week. Pseudojuloides crux and P.paradiseus are now being joined by P.pluto and P.proserpina, taking the total number of Pencil Wrasse species to 18.

Novaculops compressus, a New Species from Japan Joins the Razor Wrasses

Novaculops compressus is a new species of the small group of razor wrasses that are fun and different from the usual aquarium labrids. Unlike the usual fairies and flasher wrasses, the razor wrasses are uniquely adapted to take shelter in…

Cirrhilabrus briangreenei, an Old Aquarium Fish is a New Species of Fairy Wrasse

Cirrhilabrus briangreenei is a long overdue description for a fish that has been known in the marine aquarium hobby as the black spot pyle wrasse since at least 2008, see video below. The official description proposes the name Latigo fairy wrasse…

Cirrhilabrus randalli Offered for Sale by Among the Reef

Cirrhilabrus randalli is a species of fairy wrasse that was described as far back as 1995, but so far has been completely absent in the aquarium hobby until now. A pair of Raindall’s Fairy wrasse have just been listed for…

Nursalim Flasher Wrasse Enters the Aquarium Hobby

The Nursalim Flasher wrasse is such a rare and exotic fish, it’s been a book fish, a holy grail for rare fish fanciers and we never thought we’d see this species in captivity. But this week LiveAquaria announced that not…

First Photos of a Big & Beautiful Male Hemi Flasher Wrasse

Blue Ocean SARL is on fire collecting exciting fish from Madagascar – a couple weeks ago it was a hybrid tiger angelfish and today it’s the holy grail flasher wrasse, Paracheilinus hemitaeniatus. The little known half banded or ‘Hemi’ flasher…

Cirrhilabrus sanguineus – Red Blotched Fairy Wrasse Collected in Mauritius

Cirrhilabrus sanguineus, the red-blotched fairy wrasse is a very rare, deepwater species of fairy wrasse from the Indian Ocean that we’ve never personally seen in the aquarium trade. A few lonely specimens of Cirrhilabrus sanguineus have made their way to Asia…

First Live Pictures of a Spectacular Supermale Lennardi Wrasse!

The Lennardi Wrasse is clearly one of the most colorful and beautiful of all the medium and large size wrasses. As beautiful as Lennardi wrasses are, all the specimens that we’ve seen to date have been only of juveniles and…