Scott McLaughlin, an 18 year old from Illinois, went on a fishing trip with his dad in the Sea of Cortez and caught quite the rare shark. McLaughlin was on the boat of Jaime Rendon, the Captain of Dr. Pescado. “I asked our guide what it was, and he said he had never seen anything like it in 25 years of doing this,” McLaughlin said. “We kept it out of the water for about 10 minutes before releasing it. The guide was concerned it might be endangered.” The shark was later identified from the photos by David Ebert, program director for the Pacific Shark Research Center of Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, as an albino or leucistic swell shark. Swell sharks are common in the Gulf of Mexico and harmless to humans. This spotted shark usually resides under reef crevices and is not sought after by fisherman based on it’s poor flesh quality. The shark gets its name because when it is threatened, it can swell up to double its normal size. This particular shark was unusual since it was affected by leucism or albinism. Leucism is a condition that is caused by a lack of many different pigments, while albinism is a condition that is caused by the absence of just one pigment, melanin. “There are about 520 species of sharks, and I’ve seen albino or leucistic ones in some of those, but this was the first time seeing an albino or leucistic form of a swell shark,” Ebert said. MORE… More:

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Smaller fish, such as Blue-Green Chromis (Chromis viridis), are most likely to be affected by chronic elevated dissolved gas levels in your aquariumIf you’re like most marine aquarium hobbyists, you probably don’t give a great deal of thought to the levels of dissolved gases in your system beyond making sure you’re providing good aeration and circulation. But under certain circumstances, these levels can get out of whack to the detriment of marine livestock. Jay Hemdal, Curator of Fishes and Invertebrates for the Toledo Zoo, explains how in the following excerpt from his book The Salt Smart Guide to Preventing, Diagnosing, and Treating Diseases of Marine Fishes.Dissolved gases All aquarists are aware that their aquariums require a minimum concentration of dissolved oxygen in the water for their fish to survive. Many aquarists are also aware that if gases are dissolved in too great an amount, supersaturation can occur, causing serious health problems in their animals. Due to a lack of appropriate test equipment, most home aquarists can do little about measuring for potential problems with dissolved gas levels. There are four basic concerns regarding the level of dissolved gases in aquarium water: acute supersaturation, chronic supersaturation, low dissolved oxygen tension, and high carbon dioxide tension.

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An anatomy and a baking lesson for your young (or young-at-heart) cracker-loving scientist. Artist Jason Freeny, known for his scientifically accurate prints and models of popular snacks and toys, has just unveiled his latest creation: “Goldfish Dissected Print”. The ultracrome print, available in 19″x13″ and 22″x17″, displays the ingredients of the beloved cracker on the left and an accurate anatomical diagram of the “common” goldfish (Carassius auratus auratus) on the right. What a fun, delicious way to learn! Jason Freeny was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, Just outside Washington DC. His early childhood was spent surrounded by his two sisters and hippie parents, his mother a Go-go dancer costume designer and his father a professor of painting and sculpture at the University of Maryland. He was inspired by Pop, modern and surrealist art as well as Saturday morning cartoons. After spending most of the 90’s traveling the globe as a muralist and theatrical designer, Jason joined MTV’s Special Events department in 1997 as a freelance designer. While there, Jason designed and created stage sets, props, and custom artwork for MTV Networks live events, including the custom trophies created for MTV’s “Rock-n-Jock” series and “TRL Awards”. Jason was the Designer, Art Director, and Typographer for the poster series “Anatomy”, which was awarded the Grand Prix (Outdoor) and Gold Medal (Print Work) at the 2009 Dubai Lynx International Advertising Festival and was named “Break Through Artist” of 2011 by Clutter Magazine. The visual style of his work is certainly unique, influenced by artists such as Robert Williams, MC Escher, Claes Oldenburg, and Andy Warhol.… More:

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Monterey Bay Aquarium’s newest exhibit explores the wonders of Baja California, a diverse state in northwestern Mexico, with geography ranging from beaches and deserts to forests. The ‘Viva Baja! Life on the Edge’ special exhibition is now open and features creatures from the coastal habitats of Baja, California. This is also the first time the aquarium has also featured animals that live entirely on land in its 32 year history! The tortoises especially seem to be a hit with visitors.“They’ve been crawling all over each other and everything else,” said Paul Clarkson, curator of husbandry operations, who added that the reptiles have been extremely popular with visitors.The exhibit also features many fish and invertebrates too. Some of the featured animals from Baja’s coastal deserts, mangrove forests and coral reefs include: Bluespotted jawfish; Cortez rainbow wrasse; Desert tortoise; Golden Trevally; Lookdown; Mountain kingsnake; Pacific seahorse; Green moray and the Staghorn hermit crab. The exhibition cost 3.8 million dollars and plans to run for at least two years. The exhibition includes three main galleries with 18 live displays, including interactive displays like the ‘rainbow reef’, where visitors get the chance to color a coral reef fish and email a copy to themselves as a keep sake. The first gallery, ‘Near the Edge’ focuses on the Sonoran Desert.  The second gallery, ‘At the Edge’, features the wonders of the Mangrove Forest.  The third and final gallery, ‘Over the Edge’, highlights the areas amazing coral reefs. The exhibit takes visitors through the vast and changing landscapes of Baja. “Baja is a unique and special place,” said Raúl Nava, senior exhibit developer and writer at the aquarium. “It’s an amazing land of contrasts.” MORE… More:

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The illustrious Gramma dejongi. Photo credit: Lemon TYK.

 The family serranidae is quite possibly one of the most charismatic and familiar of all the reef fishes offered to the amateur or professional hobbyist. This might not come across as immediately apparent, but taking into account that all beguiling anthiines  (Pseudanthias included) come from this family, serranidae truly holds a rather prominent spot in the public eye. More commonly known as basslets (or some corruption of the term, i.e, fairy basslets, bass, etc.), serranids span a gamut of sizes, ranging from small, colourful reef associated species, to those of larger, duller and more predatory nature.  Of the large and diverse mix of genera, one stands out as a perennial favourite amongst fish enthusiasts. The eponymous “fairy basslets” of the genus Gramma, with its five species, are undoubtedly one of the most celebrated serranids. Known for their diminutive stature, exuberant color and charming personalities, these little fish make choice candidates for the home aquarium. Despite being a small genus, the species range from being either exceedingly common or fantastically rare. This is, of course, with regards to aquarium contexts, as they most certainly occur in relative abundance wherever they are found in the wild. The genus is strictly confined to the Western Atlantic. Gramma loreto, The Royal Gramma 

The Royal Gramma, a staple amongst amateur hobbyists. Photo credit: Lemon TYK.

 The Royal Gramma is the commonest of the five Gramma species, and is appropriately named for its beautiful and stark coloration. This species is distributed heavily along the Western Central Atlantic, from Florida to the Bahamas and over much of the Caribbean. It is one of first species an intrepid diver would encounter when diving along rocky slopes starting at 20m. Unsurprisingly, its large distribution is accompanied by certain phenotypic quirks, which may represent different species. Populations in the cayman islands, for example, have the anterior purple coloration reduced just shy of the pelvic fins. The Royal Gramma is affordable and very hardy, making it one of the best fish for a budding aquarist. It is generally peaceful and self-minding, but will hold its ground against intruders in its territory by widening its mouth to appear intimidating. In large enough set ups, this species can be kept in loose groups. Grama brasiliensis, The Brazilian Gramma 

Gramma brasiliensis. Note the sombre coloration and more suffused interphase.

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Regal Angelfish biogeography. From Coleman et al 2016

 Aquarists have long recognized the regional color differences inherent in the Regal Angelfish Pygoplites diacanthus. Those from the Indian Ocean have always been held in higher esteem, as their breast coloration is a vibrant yellow in comparison to the drab grey of the Pacific population. But, despite these readily apparent phenotypic characteristics, the scientific community has largely ignored the issue. But now, with the recent publication of an in-depth molecular study from across the species’ range, we finally are beginning to unravel the mystery of this Yellow Regal’s origins, and it’s turning out to be a bit more complex than we would have suspected. The concept of geminate species pairs should be familiar to aquarists. As it relates to Indo-Pacific marine fishes, it most often refers to two species which find themselves restricted to either the Indian or Pacific Ocean, implying that a single, formerly homogenous population was split into two distinct species by the formation of a land bridge across Indonesia during past periods of lowered sea level. Unfortunately, taxonomists have been highly inconsistent in how they treat populations which exhibit this phenomenon. Some recently described species (Nemateleotris decora/exquisita, Pseudojuloides cerasinus/kaleidos) have been split, while others (Pomacanthus imperator or Arothron hispidus) show just as much variation but, due to a lack of study, remain lumped as a single taxon. 

Comparison of the Pacific and Indian Ocean populations of Pomacanthus imperator. Note the orange caudal fin and rounded dorsal of the Indian Ocean phenotype (right). Credit: Bernard DUPONT & Malcolm Browne

 In the case of Pygoplites, a thorough examination of specimens from across much of its biogeographic range indicates what has long been suspected, those from the Indian Ocean show a genetic distinction with respect to the Pacific population. However, some of the finer details revealed by Coleman et al 2016 points to a curious evolutionary history for these fishes. The respective oceanic populations were found to differ by 1.2% – 1.5% in the genes analyzed for this study, which is a bit lower than the usual 2% cutoff used to recognize distinct “species”, but it should be noted that many recently described taxa (Pseudojuloides edwardi, Cirrhilabrus marinda, Paracheilinus alfiani) have been recognized despite sharing nearly identical genetic sequences with their respective sister species. 

A Regal Angelfish from the Red Sea, note the yellow belly.

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Reef aquarists work very hard to remove bubbles from system water. They’re fine in the skimmer, but flowing around in an aquarium? No thanks! But in the wild, they may be useful. In a recent study published in journal Environmental Science & Technology scientists from Stanford University have found that blowing bubbles through sea water can remove CO₂ from the water and return it to the atmosphere. “Ocean acidification is particularly troublesome for coral reefs because the entire structure of the ecosystems is built upon the calcium carbonate skeletal remains of dead coral,” said lead author David Koweek, a doctoral candidate at Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. “Ocean acidification makes it difficult for corals to calcify and makes it easier to erode these skeletal remains, threatening the integrity of the entire reef.” The press release from Stanford highlights the threats to reefs and a wide range of species that will find skeletogenesis far harder in waters with reduced pH. The release also states that: “Worldwide, coral reefs provide an estimated $30 billion net economic benefit each year. A healthy coral reef provides a home to thousands of organisms, which island subsistence communities rely on for the bulk of their diet. A reef’s mere presence can quell the waves whipped up by a surging storm, thereby guarding low-lying coastal towns from flooding.” “The nice thing about the bubble pulse method is that it provides an engineering technique that can help bring us closer to conditions that coral reefs were used to 100 years ago, and to which they’ve been adapted for many thousands of years,” said study coauthor Rob Dunbar, the W.M. Keck Professor of Earth Science at Stanford and Koweek’s advisor. The technique was inspired by the researchers noting something many reef aquarists will be aware of: CO₂ levels rise and fall in a predictable pattern throughout the day as marine organisms photosynthesize and respire in response to the daily variation of sunlight. The researchers found that they could encourage coral growth by reducing CO₂ levels during the pre-dawn period, when they are at their highest. The theory was put to test in the lab and shown to work. David Koweek, according to the press release, “thinks bubble stripping could prove useful for protecting small sections of shallow coastline that are ecologically, culturally, or commercially important. Because the operations would be small, the benefits to the marine environments from lowering ocean acidity levels would greatly outweigh the relatively small amount of atmospheric CO₂ generated by the bubbling process and by the compressors used to produce the bubbles.” “If this idea takes off, you could imagine people running these compressors on solar power,” Koweek said.… More:

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Good morning folks, we have a slight cloud cover this morning and a few drops of magical rain have fallen but so far nothing major! I was up early as usual and took the hounds for a long walk before work, got the bird feeders filled and the water bowls for the birds all ready. Tonight we are doing a 1st ever blue-light night dive under one of the big piers at Caracasbaai, it will be me, Stijn and our best friend Tina who used to work for the Smithsonian. I have a beautiful school of Blackbar Soldierfish that I found hiding inside the sunken tugboat at Caracasbaai, this is what I call safety in numbers! The Blackbar Soldierfish, Myripristis jacobus can be located in a marine environment within a subtropical climate.

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Don’t miss this week’s podcast about kelp aquaculture and the SheaMoisture commercial.

In this week’s podcast we tie kelp aquaculture, third-world economies, sustainability,biochemistry, personal-care products, and consumer segregation into one package. We also get to learn more about what Christine does during the workday. Download the podcast here, or subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes. Also, follow us on Twitter at reefthreads.—Gary and Christine

Sponsor: Rod’s Food
Rod’s Food website

Break the Walls
Break the Walls SheaMoisture commercial

SheaMoisture Behind the Scenes
Break the Walls SheaMoisture behind the scenes video

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With summer fast approaching, you may be looking for a place to take the kids for a vacation. Why not get your aquarium fix in at the same time? One place that is sure to be on my must see aquarium list is the Texas State Aquarium, which has just installed the longest acrylic window in the United States for it’s new H-E-B Caribbean Shark exhibit. The exhibit is part of the Caribbean Journey Exhibit, a 70,000 square foot, $55 million dollar expansion. The H-E-B Caribbean shark exhibit will feature over a dozen large sharks and a multitude of marine fish, and will be the focus point of the Caribbean Journey. Coming in at 759 square feet, the panel weighs over 42,000 pounds and is nine inches thick. This enormous viewing panel is actually made up of eight smaller panels, that are chemically bonded, making the seams nearly invisible. The panel was manufactured by Reynolds Polymer Tech of Grand Junction, Colorado, one of just a handful of suppliers of acrylic viewing windows for public aquariums. If you walk through an aquarium tunnel somewhere in the world, there is a good chance it was made by these guys. Next time you are beside a similar panel at your favorite aquarium, look closely and see if you can detect the seams.  MORE… More:

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Good morning friends, we had a wonderful night dive last night under the second pier at Caracasbaai, it is truly one of the best blue-light diving destinations in Curacao! We ended up having five people on our dive last night, it was me, Stijn, Cristina, Bruce and his daughter Avi. Bruce and Avi took off in search of lionfish but ended up niot finding any while the rest of us made a beeline straight under the pier and started shining our blue-lights everywhere! From start to finish last night we had a blast, there is so much  stuff that is glowing on the giant posts that hold the pier up that it would take 100 dives to see it all. One of my favoite things I found, high up on one of the posts was this beautiful glowing sponge (above) which was surrounded by all kinds of little pieces of algae and corals that were glowing as well.

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Recently, a Canadian court ruled that the documentary film, Vancouver Aquarium Uncovered would not be removed from the internet, and that the film’s only flaw, was using the aquarium’s copyrighted photos in the film. All told, the injunction awarded the Vancouver Aquarium amounts to 15 segments, a total of 5 minutes of the film, that must be removed. Many believe this is a win for public aquaria, showing that filmmakers often seek to frame facilities in a less than honorable light. However, when searching around online, it becomes clear that the Canadian court ruling, has done little to quell current public outrage at the fate of marine mammals in captivity. Also, when reading the public’s reaction to Vancouver Aquarium Uncovered it seems as the film served its intended purpose.   For private home aquarists, this may seem like another environmental movement, one that is aimed at large public aquaria, that houses large marine mammals, sharks and other animals unlikely to wind up in home tanks. However, it’s important to remember that not that long ago, public aquariums and even marine mammal parks like Sea World, were praised for their educational value, and the quality of family entertainment they provided. Today, mention of Sea World is enough to start an online riot, or at least an explosive, ongoing thread. Is it possible that the general public, and eventually policy makers and legislators, are experiencing a shift in societies’ views on marine animals in captivity? Could energy now directed into ending captive marine mammals, soon be directed to ending marine aquaria in general? The anti-aquarium movement:It’s without a doubt, that films The Cove and Blackfish, helped start the snowballing effect that is now the anti-aquarium movement. As aquarists, I think it’s important that we understand both that this movement encompasses a wide variety of aquaria, and also that it has merits. The Cove exposed the violence and brutality of Japan’s Taiji dolphin slaughter, while also showing that marine parks like Sea World, use the slaughter as a place to acquire new livestock. Blackfish showed the consequence of keeping killer whales in captivity, exposing the ruthless process of separating orca calves from their mothers, and focusing on how captive stress literally drives these animals insane. Both films sparked public outrage, and that rage, combined with the efforts of animal rights groups, has led to legislative changes and deteriorating public perception toward marine parks.… More:

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It’s best to have a plan in place BEFORE the power goes out, rather than rushing around to put together a solution after the factQuestionI set up a 60-gallon saltwater aquarium in my home last fall, and with my area being very prone to severe weather in spring, I have some questions about aquariums during power outages. Specifically, I’d like to know: How long can an aquarium go without power before you have to do something about it? In other words, if the electricity goes out and I just leave the tank alone waiting for it to come back on, how long can the fish and corals survive? Which aquarium systems should be given top priority during a power outage? Am I correct in assuming temperature control, lighting, and aeration? What materials/equipment do you recommend I keep on hand in case of a power outage?

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Although this creepy film was captured last April, off the coast of Panama, the footage has just been released. Scientists were investigating the complex phenomena that causes thousands of tuna crabs to swarm in the same direction. The video was captured over 1200 feet deep by an underwater vehicle. These tuna crabs are usually found in Southern California, and have never been found as far south as Panama. Although El Nino has been used an explanation for why these crabs have previously appeared in Northern California, researchers don’t believe El Nino is to blame for why they ended up in Panama.“It was unusual. In the past, we’ve noticed aggregations of breeding crabs hanging around the ocean floor, or migrating onto land if they’re terrestrial,” Jesús Pineda, a researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) told Motherboard. “But these particular crabs weren’t responding to food, or migrating, or reproducing. This was something different.” According to scientists, the pattern of the crab swarm is highly unusual for crabs, and more commonly seen in insects. The scientists plan to return to Panama to try and figure out what the swarm of crabs were doing and what role, if any, this may play for the ecosystem at large. MORE… More:

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Hello friends, I have a scorpionfish for you all today with his classic grumpy face, big mouth and ornate decorations that we found late at night out on the reef. I’ve been searching high and low looking for scorpionfish with our blue-lights at night but am not finding any, it’s a case of when you don’t want them they are everywhere and when you need one you can’t find one to save your life!  Most species of scorpionfish are bottom-dwellers that feed on crustaceans and smaller fish. Many inhabit shallow waters, but a few live as deep as 2,200 m (7,200 ft). Most scorpionfish, such as the stonefish, wait in disguise for prey to pass them by before swallowing, while lionfish often ambush their prey. Like many perciform fishes, scorpionfish are suction feeders that capture prey by rapidly projecting a suction field generated by expansion of the fish’s buccal cavity.

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Red Scooter Dragonet Recently, Oceans Reefs and Aquariums (ORA) announced they had, for the first time, successfully breed the Ruby Red Dragonet.  As of today, ORA has announced that the popular Red Scooter Dragonet (Synchiropus stellatus) will again be available. Similar to the Scooter Dragonet, the Red Scooter Dragonet distinguishes itself with unique shades of red and burgundy absent from the Scooter Dragonet.  Sometimes referred as Stellate or Starry Dragonets, these colorful little fish are not actually blennies, as they are sometimes called. One of the advantages Aqua-cultured Dragonets have over wild caught specimens is they are raised to accept pellet food. They will also continue to eat small worms, copepods and amphipods as well as prepared foods like frozen mysis and frozen artemia (brine

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Good morning friends, I placed 2nd in Masters and 8th overall yesterday in the annual 45k Montana/Ennia mountain bike race. The race started in Montana (sounds like mon-ton-ya not like the state of Montana) at 3:00 in the afternoon and went to Playa Kanoa and back! For me it wasn’t the distance it was the heat and wind, who starts a race at three on the island of Curacao??? I am sure it was close to 100 degrees when we started and wasn’t much cooler at 4:30 when I finished! I had packed some food to eat at the half-way point like banana’s but apparently they fell out of my pack early on??

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When I initially planned out my new reef tank setup my mind was essentially made up to purchase a custom glass display tank and an acrylic frag tank. My thought was to spend the extra $$ for a high quality display and be economical with the frag tank. All of that changed once I took delivery of my display from Coast To Coast Custom Aquariums. This aquarium, a 187 gallon low iron tank with euro bracing and an external overflow, was a piece of art as the quality and craftsmanship were top notch. It was the Porsche of fish tanks! Yes, it was time to rethink my frag tank setup. For my prior setup I went with an acrylic frag tank since it was much cheaper and lighter

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