In another effort to rectify the various misnomers that plague the aquarium industry, we’ll take a look at a small innocuous dottyback that has been masquerading under an inaccurate alias for far too long. The fish above in the tile…
awesome fish spotlight
Awesome Fish Spotlight: Zebrasoma xanthurum, the Purple Tang
It’s been some time since we last featured an Awesome Fish Spotlight, and what better way to continue than with an evergreen aquarium favourite from a well loved genus. Zebrasoma is without a doubt the blue eyed boy of the…
Awesome Fish Spotlight: Cirrhilabrus rubrimarginatus in nuptial display
Today’s Awesome Fish Spotlight features an opulent member of the wildly popular genus Cirrhilabrus, more affectionally known as the Fairy Wrasses. Cirrhilabrus rubrimarginatus is a common species with a wide distribution across much of the Western Pacific, from Japan through…
Awesome Fish Spotlight: Pseudojuloides kaleidos, in all its beautiful forms
Of all the labrids that enter the trade, none are quite as refreshing and unorthodox as Pseudojuloides. Wrasses are social butterflies that are found in haremic groups. usually of a single male and multiple females. As such, maintaining a species of…
Nemateleotris helfrichi: A tale of two heads
Immense fish collection in the early 90’s brought new light to a plethora of colourful reef fish, many of which the world had never seen. In 1938, from a smorgasbord of specimens in the Albatross collection, one exquisite little fish…
Awesome Fish Spotlight: Steinhart’s studly Genicanthus lamarck
Like the insanely beautiful traffic cone coloured male Genicanthus semifasciatus in the Dallas Aquarium, Steinhart in the California Academy of Science has its own studly Genicanthus to boast. G. lamarck is a common species with a rather large distribution in…
Awesome Fish Spotlight: Solar Flare, the hypomelanistic flame angelfish
This is the first time we’re featuring an aberrant fish for Awesome Fish Spotlight, and today’s featured fish is a hypomelanistic flame angel. Unlike many of the funky koi mutations which often manifest as unusual and unknown transient colour changes,…
Awesome Fish Spotlight: Who took a tuka and made it pascalus?
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but the hiatus ends today with another Awesome Fish Spotlight. This time we feature not one, but two species as we draw attention to Pseudanthias pascalus and Pseudanthias tuka. While looking superficially similar and rather…
Midweek Misnomer: Plectranthias (Zalanthias) azumanus vs Plectranthias (Zalanthias) kelloggi
This week’s Midweek Misnomer addresses the confusion between two Plectranthias species. Again with Plectranthias. We’re just having a good jive with the genus recently and the past three fish posts from me have been about this. The misidentification of various…
Venomous Marine Fish: It’s Hard to Define the Effects of Their Stings
People are naturally fascinated by venomous animals and often very curious about the effects their venom might have on people they bite or sting. Any marine aquarium hobbyist who’s kept a lionfish, rabbitfish, saltwater catfish, or other fish species equipped…