indian ocean

In the Seychelles, scientists are getting help from nature’s cleanup crew

An innovative new technique for cleaning farmed corals is giving researchers more time on the reefs and less time scrubbing. Inspired by nature, researchers in the Seychelles have found that by sending corals to the ‘cleaners’ before transplanting them to…

Unknown Mauritius Valenciennea sleeper goby spotted at Greenwich Aquaria

Sleeper gobies are large showy sand-sifting gobies of the genus Valenciennea, of which there are many popular species in aquariums. A newly discovered specimen from Mauritius hints that there could be yet another new addition to this highly desirable and attractive…

There’s something fishy with some of the Clown Tangs of the Seychelles

Part of the excitement about being a fancier of marine life is the ability to follow leads of curiosity, no matter how improbable the odds of success in finding something meaningful, even when you don’t really know what you are…

Navigobius cf. dewa collected from the Maldives for the first time

Not too long ago we pointed out that the genus Navigobius could hold two more species apart from the original japanese endemic N dewa. In this article we mentioned that certain individuals of “pink dart gobies” coming out of Japan were…

The Powder Blue Tang: An Iconic Beauty Demanding Exceptional Care

The powder blue tang (Acanthurus leucosternon) is a breathtakingly beautiful, widely recognized (even among non-hobbyists) marine fish that can be a real pain to maintain in aquaria. While it is possible to keep one successfully under ideal conditions, most specimens…

Siganus insomnis is a striking new species of rabbitfish from the Indian Ocean

Siganus insomnis is a new species of rabbitfish hailing from the Northern Indian Ocean around Sri Lanka, Southern India and Sri Lanka. While new species of rabbitfish don’t come along very often, the new “sleepless” rabbitfish is well worth the…

Purple Firefish: A Shy Beauty for the Small, Peaceful Aquarium

Marine aquarists looking for a gorgeous, interesting, nano-friendly fish might entertain the idea of keeping the purple firefish (a.k.a. the purple dartfish, elegant firefish/dartfish, and decorated firefish/dartfish, among various other common names). Given appropriate tankmates and care, this graceful, hardy,…

LiveAquaria makes historic first aquarium offering of the line-spot triggerfish

Xanthichthys lineopunctatus is a triggerfish so rare that it doesn’t even have a real common name, but that hasn’t stopped LiveAquaria from scoring the first ever live specimen for the aquarium trade. LiveAquaria is going with the Fishbase common name…

Exquisite firefish, Nemateleotris exquisita – a bigger yellow version of the purple firefish

The exquisite firefish, Nemateleotris exquisita, joins the small but illustrious group of reef fish which are endowed with equally flattering latin names. Hailing from the western Indian Ocean, the new exquisite firefish looks very similar to the well known purple firefish,…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: The tiger damselfish, Chrysiptera annulata, from the Western Indian Ocean

Sometime this summer we found ourselves floating on the surface of a shallow Indian Ocean near shore reef when we spotted something bright and unexpected – a brilliant black and white damselfish the likes of which we had never seen…