The Georgia Aquarium wont be adding Russian Beluga Whales to its collection. In September, a Judge ruled that the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) properly applied the Marine Mammal Protection Act when it denied the Georgia Aquarium’s permit to import 18 Beluga whales from Russia. The Aquarium had taken the NOAA’s denial to be reviewed in Federal Court, where the denial was affirmed by Judge Totenberg in September. In the initial denial, the NOAA stated that the Georgia Aquarium’s application failed to meet some of the necessary criteria pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act.  Since the Judge confirmed the decision in September, an appeal would be the Georgia Aquariums only recourse from the NOAA decision. However, the Georgia Aquarium has stated it will not be seeking appeal. “We believe we were right but at the end of the day there’s a judge and a court and that decision was out of our hands,” aquarium CEO Mike Leven said in a phone interview. “We’re very sad that it ended this way, but it’s time to move on.” Appeals can be extremely time consuming, taking years before a resolution is reached, and also extremely expensive. Since the process of trying to import the whales began in 2010, the Georgia Aquarium has spent nine million dollars on legal costs, transportation, maintenance and travel.  Additionally, if an appeal was started, the whales would of have to remain in their temporary homes in Russia, suspended in a sort of limbo from finding permanent homes until the appeal was finalized. “It’s in the whales’ best interest to get them into more permanent homes, and the aquarium will help with that as much as possible”, Leven said. MORE… More:

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This fish is mildly emaciated, which could be a symptom of internal parasites if it were feeding normallyWhen a fish in our care gets sick, it’s a perfectly understandable impulse to want to throw every cure we can lay our hands on at the problem. But sometimes rushing ahead with a medication or other treatment can do more harm than good. In the following excerpt from his book The Salt Smart Guide to Preventing, Diagnosing, and Treating Diseases of Marine Fishes, author Jay Hemdal explains why the Latin phrase “Primum non nocere” (“First, do no harm”) is so significant when it comes to administering treatments to sick fish.When the cure is worse than the disease With some fish diseases, a proposed cure may actually be more damaging than the illness itself. In human medicine, this is called the iatrogenic effect, where the proposed cure causes its own serious problems. To avoid this, aquarists must always be aware of the Latin phrase “Primum non nocere,” or “First, do no harm.” Problems in developing an appropriate disease treatment can range from treating an aquarium with a medication or dosage that ends up being lethal to the fish to procrastinating due to indecision, again with fish loss as a result. In between these two extremes are using products that simply do not work as advertised, treating for the wrong disease, or trying too many different treatments. Double check the dosage and stock up Always double check your dosage calculations before adding any medication to an aquarium. Some medications can be toxic to sensitive species, notably ionic copper and chloroquine

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Hey gang, here’s one of the largest deep-sea hermit crabs (about the size of a grapefruit) I have seen to date, named Dardanus insignis, the “southern form”. The crab was living in a very light-weight fragile shell that had a big hole in the top that you can see just over his eyes. Also if your wondering what that thing is on his shell that looks like a sideways volcano, it’s a live anemone! Yeah how cool is that I ask?? If disturbed the anemone would close and just look like a big fleshy lump on his shell but seemed to open back up pretty quickly. Besides the anemone he also had live tunicates stuck to his shell and heaven only knows what else, truly one of the coolest of crabs I have seen

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From Midway Island. Credit: Keoki Stender

 R. xenops is found from the Hawaiian Archipelago, north to Midway Island, though it may also occur at nearby atolls like Wake Island and Johnston Atoll. This is the only species in the genus which occurs in Hawaii; compare that to Japan, where no less than five distinct species abound. This Hawaiian species shares with argoliba and cea a higher pectoral fin ray count. It occurs more shallowly (~25m) in the cooler waters of the Northeastern Hawaiian Islands and deeper in the larger islands (<60m) of Hawaii.Rhinopias cf xenops 

The white markings appear to be somewhat consistent, though see the erythric specimen below. Credit: atopapa

 Known from Japan (Kashiwajima, Sagura Bay, Ryukyu & Izu Islands), Taiwan, and the Macclesfield Banks of the South China Sea. Depth range may be shallower in Japan (as shallow as 10m), while specimens outside Japan are found from 50-80 meters. 

Note the taller, spikier dorsal fin. Credit: Nagata Koji

 It’s uncertain if this species is truly the same as the Hawaiian xenops. While examined specimens have similar morphological measurements, there are some consistent color differences, even given how variable these species are to begin with. Hawaiian specimens seem to lack the white markings beneath the eye and dorsal fin which are common to these Asian populations. Furthermore, Hawaiian specimens have less of the reddish hue than their Asian counterparts. 

The high pectoral ray count, dorsal fin shape and extensive skin flaps make this cf xenops. Credit: makabe

 This species has an overlapping biogeography with argoliba, but I have yet to see these two species photographed in close proximity. My suspicion is that these occupy different habitats or niches, though precisely what these are I couldn’t say. R. argoliba is easily confused with the co-occurring cf xenops, but differs in its lower dorsal fin, less-mottled coloration and reduced skin ornamentation.
Hipposcorpaena filamentosa
 

Specimen from Japan. Note the dorsal fin shape, large skin flaps above the eyes, and fingerlike pectoral fin rays. Credit: unknown

 Reported from the Philippines, Bali, Lembeh and Milne Bay, and Northwest Australia. The images here extend the range through Japan. Known from 20-100m. 

Another Japanese specimen. Credit: kashiwajima-fish

 This is a poorly-known species, and there is significant taxonomic confusion regarding its generic placement, with some sources treating this as belonging within the monospecific genus Hipposcorpaena and others placing it within Rhinopias.… More:

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Good morning from Curacao… So what are we looking at today you ask?? Well, let me tell you, this is really cool. Many have asked me “if a sponge falls over on the reef, will it continue to grow”?? Good question. The answer is yes and no.

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A team of international researchers including professor and diver John Fauth from the University of Southern Florida have battled the sun in a study where they measured the devestating effects of a compound found in commercial Sunscreen, upon coral reefs. “The use of oxybenzone-containing products  needs to be seriously deliberated in islands and areas where coral reef conservation is a critical issue,” Downs said. “We have lost at least 80 percent of the coral reefs in the Caribbean. Any small effort to reduce oxybenzone pollution could mean that a coral reef survives a long, hot summer, or that a degraded area recovers. Everyone wants to build coral nurseries for reef restoration, but this will achieve little if the factors that originally killed off the reef remain or intensify in the environment.”  Laboratory experiments that exposed coral larvae and cells to increased saturated levels of oxybenzone and conclude both genetic and physical damage was done to both. Larvae exposed to levels similar to those detected in samples collected around reefs were were trapped in their own skeletons, unable to disperse into the water column. The DNA of coral cells was also inhibited or completely destroyed by Oxybenzone causing an an increase in bleaching frequency in seven different types of coral. The team concluded that: “Oxybenzone poses a hazard to coral reef conservation, and threatens the resiliency of coral reefs to climate change.” And that instead of lathering up the lotion we should “Wear rash guards or scuba wetsuits and skip all the hygienic products when you go diving,” added Fauth. “If we could do it for a week at a time, people can certainly forgo it for a few hours to help protect these reefs for our children and their children to see.” Read the abstract and purchase the paper here!… More:

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Antennarius on display at the Long Island Aquarium. Photo credit: Alex Pilnick

 One of my favorite exhibits to take care of at the Long Island Aquarium is our frogfish exhibit. It’s a small focus display of around 36 gallons and is home to four personable frogfish: one Antennarius maculatus, one Antennarius pictus and two Antennarius commerson. 

Sargassum fish, hiding in sargassum. Weird right? Credit: Todd Gardner

 The genus Antennarius contains 13 different species of frogfish. These frogfish can be found in both tropical and subtropical water; they spend most of their time in the benthos zone or floating around in Sargassum.
Besides their unusual appearance, frogfish also have another unique adaptation. Since they aren’t quick swimmers, these fish need to be able to capture prey (their diet is mainly fish and crustaceans)  in a different way. They are able to do this by using a rod (called an esca) that has a lure (called an illicium) on the end. These lures can come in all shapes and sizes, but they all function the same way – the lure resembles the food their prey eats – animals like worms, small shrimps or small fish. They can consume a prey that is up to twice their size. The habitat that the frogfish comes from will effect the type of lure it has; species that live in coral and sponges often have a long lure, as they need to attract their prey from a distance, while those that live in rocky crevices generally have a short lure, because its prey will pass much closer by. Each species moves their rod and lure in a pattern specific to that species. For example A. maculatus moves its rod and lure in wavy patterns, while A. commerson moves in an up and down pattern. Frogfish can also use chemical attractants to capture prey. This can be a key survival tactic for species such as A. striatus, who forages at night. This species can also enlarge their esca by up to 30%. 

Antennarius striatus, which can increase or decrease its esca by 30%

 The breeding habits of the frogfish are quite interesting, though not a lot is known about frogfish spawning. From what has been documented, the courtship begins anywhere from a few days to just a few hours before the spawn. When spawning begins, the male follows behind the female,  just below her cloaca; as she releases her eggs, the male swims around in a swirly pattern, fertilizing the eggs as he goes – the whole process takes about 5 seconds from start to finish. … More:

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Manonichthys paranox, the Midnight Dottyback. Photo credit: Lemon TYK.

 Mimicry is an ancient art practiced and mastered across the board in the animal kingdom. The paradigm of mimesis is a multifaceted prism, each with unique modifications to the standard model. In a precarious world where “eat or be eaten” is the central dogma, organisms must evolve certain tricks to enable survival and proliferation. No one said that these have to be boring though, and as evolution would show, nature is a magician with a bottomless pit for its hat of tricks.  

A classic example of batesian mimicry.

 In the discussion of mimicry, no other group of organisms embody this to greater lengths than insects. Some of the more iconic, classic examples of mimesis center around the field of entomology, where batesian and müllerian mimicry are notoriously well represented. In the former, a harmless, vulnerable species seeks protection by copying a known, distasteful or toxic model. By masquerading under false colors, the palatable insect is rendered invisible to predators, sans the subtle nuances that humans have come to appreciate. This is well studied in Papilio memnon – a large tropical swallowtail butterfly with polymorphic females that mimic various toxic species. In müllerian mimicry, two or more similarly toxic animals mimic each other to seek protection as a group, increasing the chances of survival. While these models are widely featured in terrestrial organisms, the same can be applied in the realm of piscines as well. The venomous Meiacanthus fang blennies are well known for their painful bites, and so serve as models to a wide variety of faux representatives. Cheilidopterus and juvenile Scolopsis are well known batesian mimics who swim under the pretense of these bennies. A more common model adopted in the reef, however, are protective resemblance and aggressive mimicry. In the former, organisms cover and conceal themselves by adopting the form and colors of their environment. Some well known examples include sponge-mimicking frogfishes (Antennarius) and the highly perplexing ghost pipefishes (Stolenostomus). 

Aspidontus taeniatus and Labroides dimidiatus. Photo credit: Lemon TYK.

 Even more diabolical still, is the adoption of aggressive mimicry. In this scenario, an animal adopts the color of a friendly species, exploiting its guise to sneak up on prey. The genus Plagiotremus and Aspidontus, both opportunistic carnivores, have evolved in great tandem with their models. The sinister and malevolent Aspidontus for example, mimics the cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus, and with its masquerade, brazenly swims up to unsuspecting fish where it takes a chunk out of its flesh.… More:

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Ret Talbot is our guest this week.

It’s time for a new Reef Threads podcast. This week we’re joined by Ret Talbot to talk about the tremendous and exciting progress that is being made with the Philippines fisheries. Collecting in the Philippines has long been a sore spot for this hobby. But it’s all changing for the better through the efforts of a new under secretary. 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

Good Catch Blog
Ret Talbot’s blog

Ret on Reefs.com
Ret Talbot’s Reefs.com reports

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While the title of this post puts me in mind of a song performed by Nick Rivers in the 1984 comedy film Top Secret, it’s a question many a novice has posed before setting up his or her first marine aquarium. How basic can it be? Or, put another way, what equipment is absolutely essential and what isn’t?This is a perfectly logical question because ours can be a highly equipment-intensive hobby, and the choices of gear and gadgets designed to make our lives easier can be downright mind-blowing. Add in all the online forum chatter about—and volatile disputes over—the latest-and-greatest hobby technology and methodology, and it’s no surprise that many beginners have a heck of a time distinguishing between the bare essentials and the “bells and whistles.” Complicating matters, of course, is the fact that opinions on what constitutes “essential equipment” can vary widely from one hobbyist to the next. I would humbly submit that the following items are all you really need for a bare-bones saltwater setup: (Note that you’ll also need various and sundry small-ticket items used for regular operation and maintenance, such as aquarium brushes, an algae magnet, etc. Plus, if you plan to keep a reef system, you’ll need to add some means of calcium/alkalinity supplementation to the list.) Some folks might say this list is grossly incomplete while others might contend you could get by without some of the items on it.

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Hello from overcast Curacao. I went with Aimee and the three dogs before work this morning and we again planted baby yucca’s, and we are finally almost done!! When our giant century plant we had in our front yard died it left behind close to 500 babies which we have been taking out to the desert every single day and planting them in hopes of keeping the circle of life alive. I have a super curious, completely unafraid brown Coney for you all today that I again shot while on my last trip to our small remote island of Klein Curacao. These are considered sea bass with their heavy bodies and large lips and are very common in many areas around Curacao

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Hi all, sorry so late, we had two submersible dives today which as you can imagine keeps yours truly very busy!! While out on my second dive and while waiting for the sub I snapped a shot of a beautiful burgundy colored Christmas Tree worm for you all. The top photo shows our beautiful little creature open and the bottom photo shows him safe and sound inside his tube deep inside the reef. These gentle little two inch creatures are what we call “the icing on the cake” meaning they put the final touch on the reef and are found in a cornucopia of colors and can be found attached to just about everything you see underwater. If disturbed they will disappear, an action which happens so fast it’s mind boggling and if left alone they will pop back up within minutes and sometimes seconds, such cool little animals.

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Most serious marine aquarists have a water mixing station. Even though we live in an age of nearly endless aquarium filtration options, water changes still rank as one of the best aquarium maintenance practices. They remove compounds like nitrate and phosphate, dilute waste and replenish trace elements absorbed by corals. Water changes are a key strategy for keeping a healthy marine aquarium. Water mixing stations make performing water changes easier and more convenient, while giving the aquarist the opportunity to have fresh saltwater on hand at all times. While water mixing stations are a necessity when keeping a marine aquarium, they can also become a hotbed for disease. Often the same utility pumps are used to move water from mixing stations into the tank, and the tools we use to help mix water (pitchers, powerheads, etc) have been exposed to both fresh saltwater and our aquarium’s water. Unless an aquarist is uber-vigilant in making sure pumps, water vats and other maintenance necessities never mix, than it’s quite possible that a water mixing station can also become a parasite and bacterial farm. Is there a simple additional step that can be taken when preparing saltwater that greatly reduces that chance that fresh saltwater may carry some very unwanted hitchhikers from a previous parasitic outbreak?    Contamination:Water mixing usually goes something like this: RODI water is created, being collected in a 32 gallon brute trashcan. Some of this water will be used to replenish that lost to evaporation, and the majority will be pumped into another vat, where it is heated and brought to appropriate salinity. In that period of time, it’s very possible that the aquarist can contaminate the newly mixed saltwater. They may dip a coral, using a pitcher to remove 1 gallon of water from the aquarium, then using the same pitcher to replenish that with a gallon of fresh saltwater from the mixing vat. If there is a parasite within the main aquarium, this is an opportunity for contamination. Often when a parasitic outbreak occurs, aquarists are in a rush to create freshwater, mix saltwater and move all infected species to a hospital tank. If you have a large reef, this can be especially chaotic as fish are removed, hospital tanks are set-up and treatments administered. Some aquarists opt for treatment with hypo-salinity, which means more chaos as it can take large amounts of freshwater to bring a marine tank into complete hypo-salinity.… More:

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Whitecheek Tang (Acanthurus nigricans) afflicted with Cryptocaryon irritansDuring yesterday’s Thanksgiving get-together, which my wife and I host for my side of the family every year, a teenaged nephew asked me about marine ich (Cryptocaryon irritans)—the one fish disease he’s heard something about from a friend who keeps saltwater tanks. As I explained the parasite and its lifecycle and why I think it’s so important to quarantine new specimens, he asked, “If ich spreads so easily, why aren’t all the fish in the ocean infected?” Thrilled that, for once at least, I could offer my curious young nephew something akin to wisdom, I explained that the following factors help keep ich infections at a manageable level in wild fish populations:The vastness of the ocean Even though coral reefs appear to be bristling with fish, the density of the fish population relative to the volume of the ocean is, if you’ll excuse the pun, a mere drop in the bucket. Remember, during the tomite, or theront, stage of the Cryptocaryon lifecycle, the free-swimming parasites must find a host fish to attach to and feed upon within a relatively short period or they die. In the vast ocean, with its limitless water volume and powerful, dynamic currents, only a very small number of tomites ever succeed in locating a host. On the other hand, in a closed aquarium system, even if the actual number of fish specimens is fairly small, the population density is still extremely high relative to the volume of water. Of course, the density of host-seeking parasites relative to the water volume is also very high.

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Seahorses can be found along many shorelines frequented by people. Photo by Caio R. N. Periera cc-by/nc So you’ve found a seahorse, and you want to keep it. Or maybe you stumbled across one washed ashore, and are unsure what to do next. This question comes up from time to time. It’s not frequent, but it does happen enough that I wanted to provide some guidance. Release It! The best thing to do is to release the seahorse back where you found it, if at all possible. The sooner you can do this, the better off the seahorse will be. This is especially true for those found washed up on the beach, as can happen from time to time due to seahorse’s poor swimming abilities.

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Seahorse mid strike; hyoid bone visible which is part of the complex musculoskeletal system seahorses utilize in suction feeding. This can be damaged easily. Photo by Tami Weiss You may have heard of ‘weak snick’, a common description of a clinical sign in syngnathids whereby attempts to feed appear weakened, that is, they don’t produce the nice ‘click’ sound you like to hear when healthy syngnathids strike at their prey. Multiple causes have been attributed to this particular clinical sign however in some severe progressive cases; this has been suspected to be due to a nutritional myopathy, which simply means a muscle disease caused by a nutritional imbalance. The suspected nutritional myopathy can present in many ways including: lethargy, weak snick, inappetence, and in severe unresolved cases,

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A paper published recently has shed some light into the battle against the Crown of Thorns sea star. “You don’t have to see the crown-of-thorns to know they have been on the reef. You can see where they have been because they leave trails of bleached white coral. All they leave behind are the coral skeletons,” says Cody Clements, a Georgia Tech graduate student in Hay’s lab and the paper’s lead author. The Crown of Thorns has been a thorn in the side of reef management for quite some time now, and methods to eradicate the menace have been largely unsuccessful, but this two-year study will allow management teams to incorporate the roles of seaweed into their plans to battle the onslaught of these sea stars. “On the reefs that we study, seaweeds reduce coral growth by both chemical and mechanical means,” said Mark Hay, a professor in the School of Biology at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the paper’s senior author. “But we found that seaweeds can benefit corals by reducing predation by the crown-of-thorns sea stars. Corals surrounded by seaweeds were virtually immune to attack by the sea stars, essentially converting the seaweeds from enemies to friends.” In addition to photographic reference, Clements and his team placed wire cages around coral colonies with varying amounts of seaweed cover to measure the predation rates and consumption amounts of the Crown of Thorns. They then placed a single Crown of Thorns into each cage while observing their interaction over a period sometimes as long as 10 days. In their experiment, they noticed that coral with a high level of algae cover (about eight percent) were much more likely to be consumed, as opposed to coral with an average cover of fifty-five percent. The exact reason why algae deters the Crown of Thorns, either through chemical secretion, physical entanglement, or a completely different reason is yet to be determined, but expanding on their research Clements added “We are interested not only in how direct interactions between species play out, but also how these indirect interactions come into the picture and influence the wider community. When it comes to coral reefs, that is very important because these interactions can affect the trajectory of an entire community of organisms.” Read more here!… More:

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On the heels of international climate talks in Paris the World Wildlife Fund has released a startling review of the status of our oceans titled “Living Blue Planet Report.” The WWF and Zoological Society of London releases a bi-annual report that details the state of our planets “health” or homeostatic condition, but this report released just a couple of months ago is an amplified message, explaining how we as a species have mismanaged our oceans to the extent of imitate collapse. “When I wrote the foreword to the 2014 edition of WWF’s Living Planet Report, I said it was not for the faint-hearted. This edition – a deep dive into the health of marine species and the habitats on which they depend – is equally if not more sobering” explains Marco Lambertini Director General at WWF International. Although the report tells a grim tale of our current state it spends much time offering solutions and reinforcing our innate ability to create change. “The good news is there are abundant opportunities to reverse these trends,” said Brad Ack, senior vice president for oceans at WWF. “Stopping black market fishing, protecting coral reefs, mangroves and other critical ocean habitats, and striking a deal in Paris to slash carbon pollution are all good for the ocean, the economy, and people. Now is the time for the US and other world players to lead on these important opportunities.” Please follow this link to view the ENTIRE REPORT FOR FREE but if you don’t have time to read the entire study please review these stunning statements written at the beginning of the paper: 

… More:

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Blue-legged hermit crabs (Clibanarius tricolor)Clibanarius tricolor, the blue-legged hermit crab, is very commonly introduced to marine aquaria, either in conspecific groups or as part of a multi-species “reef janitor” package or “cleanup crew” (aka “CUC” for those who just can’t get enough of those marine aquarium acronyms), for the purpose of aiding in detritus and algae control. But does this little hermit really perform as advertised and is it truly reef safe? Based on my personal experience with keeping blue-legged hermits, I would answer both of these questions with a resounding “maybe.” Before adding C. tricolor to your aquarium—especially in large numbers—consider the following four caveats:1. It’s an opportunistic omnivore What this point should tell you is, C. tricolor won’t necessarily limit its menu to the algae, detritus, and uneaten food you want it to consume.

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Hydor International Trade Complaint Hydor has filed against Jeabo in relation to the theft of patented technology. Hydor filed a complaint last week with U.S. International Trade Commission stating Jebao’s products infringe U.S. Patent No. 8,191,846, a patent protecting HYDOR’s aquarium fitting technology. The company also stated in a press release “HYDOR considers its aquarium fitting technology and its related patents to be very valuable, and it will remain resolute and active in vigorously enforcing its patents in this area.” Hydor – “I’m glad to inform you that the press release of the ITC complaint (US International Trade Commission) is now online on www.hydor.com website and in the Hydor Facebook page.”   AquaNerd will be following this story as it unfolds.

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