Researchers at the Georgia Tech’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences have painted a grim picture for the current status of Pacific ocean reefs. El Nino events are especially high this year and the waters surrounding many reefs are heating up quicker and more extensively than scientist had hoped.
“This El Niño event is driving one of the three largest global scale bleaching events on record,” said Kim Cobb, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Science. “Ocean temperatures exceeded the threshold for healthy corals back in the summer, and are continuing to warm. Bleaching occurs when temperatures exceed a threshold that is function of the amount of warming, as well as the length of time at that temperature.” Studying the coral loss on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, Cobb and her team saw losses ranging from 50 to 90 percent and returned with temperature measurements of 88 degrees fahrenheit, well above the average 81 degree previously recorded.  Pictured above you can see Georgia Tech graduate student Pamela Grothe performing surveys inside massive areas of bleached, reef building, coral on Christmas Island. “There’s an astounding amount of warming at this particular site,” said Cobb. “These reefs are under dramatic stress which is leading to severe coral loss. It will take years for these reefs to recover.”
El Nino events have increased in intensity every year and this particular year is equal in scale to the largest ever recorded warming event, reported back in 1997-1998. “Even without considering the current event, we have already documented that the recent spate of large El Niño events in the late 20th century stands out against a background of natural oscillations embedded in the coral records” adds Cobb. Read more here.… More:

The post Central Pacific Reefs Battered by El Nino appeared first on Reefs.com.

Good morning friends, here is the hands down most beautiful fish Curacao has to offer, it’s called a Candy Basslet, Liopropoma carmabi and lives at a depth of about 225 feet! This is by far the most sought after aquarium fish in the World and will cost you around $500 to $1000 to own one. This is considered a Sea Bass in the Serranidae family and only grows to be about two inches in length! As you can see, these mini sea bass are boldly marked with stripes generally in shades of light brown to red-brown or yellow-brown alternating with red to maroon but stripes may be occasionally yellow to lavender or even blue as you see here!!

The post Candy Bass, Liopropoma carmabi appeared first on Reefs.com.

It’s the season for giving, and what better way to show you care about the health of our planet’s coral reef ecosystems than by directly helping to fund research aimed at bettering our understanding of these increasingly imperiled habitats. Dr. Mikhail Matz of the University of Texas – Austin is reaching out to coral enthusiasts everywhere to help expand his research into how Caribbean stony corals are able to adapt and survive through environmental changes. By parsing through the genetic code of these creatures, he hopes to better understand the speed with which corals are able to evolve to meet the challenges brought by climate change, and, ultimately, how we might best ensure their continued survival.  His lab has a kickstarter-style fundraising drive (link) in effect for the next three days, and for the low, low price of just $25, you can directly fund the expense of sequencing a coral. What a perfect stocking stuffer for all those hard-to-shop-for reef nerds out there! Rather than picking up another coral frag that you don’t really need, why not give a little back to the reef by helping Dr. Matz? 

The Round Starlet Coral Siderastrea siderea is one of the target organisms of Dr. Matz’s research. Credit: Mary Stafford-Smith.

 For the particularly well-heeled and generous coral lover, there is even the option to fully fund all the genomic work required for a single species. At $7,500, it’s likely to be out of the holiday budget for many reefkeepers, but cutting edge science doesn’t come cheap. Still, if you’ve got the funds, this is an exceptional way to show your love for the reefs. You’ll even get special acknowledgement in the peer-reviewed research your investment will produce. So what are you waiting for? These genomes won’t sequence themselves…… More:

The post Adopt a Coral Genome for $25! appeared first on Reefs.com.

Crack open any of these great saltwater and reef aquarium resource books and be prepared to learn!“Research the characteristics and care requirements of any fish or invertebrate you plan to keep.”“Studying the fundamentals of saltwater aquarium keeping before setting up your first system is a hallmark of success.” We’ve dispensed advice like this time and time again here at Saltwater Smarts. But knowing that you should do research before buying livestock or attempting new techniques is only half the equation. The other half is knowing which sources you can turn to for reliable, authoritative information. After all, there’s a lot of literature floating around out there and not all of it is equally accurate or trustworthy. So, in today’s post, Caribbean Chris and I would like to begin a list of marine aquarium reference sources that we consider valuable, if not indispensable, to hobbyists who are hungry for reliable, time-tested guidance. Under each listing, we’ll explain why we consider the work so valuable to the hobby.

The post Reliable Marine Aquarium Reference Sources appeared first on Reefs.com.

Published earlier this year in the Journal of Colloid a new study from researchers at Anhui Jianzhu University in China has explained how they have adapted coral like structures into nanotechnology that removes mercury from water. Using aluminum oxide Dr. Xianbiao Wang and his scientists have developed nanoplates capable of removing 2.5 times more mercury than traditional nanoparticles designed to achieve the same result. “Adsorption is an easy way to remove pollutants from water, so developing new products that can do this is a big challenge in environmental remediation,” said Dr. Xianbiao Wang, an author from Anhui Jianzhu University. “The chemical and physical structure of such products is very important, it is interesting to design and fabricate adsorbents with different structures to see how they behave. In particular, materials that mimic biological adsorbents like coral have potentially huge applications.”  Heavy metal contamination impacts all forms of life living with the water column and most specifically by absorption. Coral are equally effected as fish so the porous nature of coral structures was natural adapted to current technologies by Dr. Wang and his team. “We are very excited about the results, which provide a good example for the production of coral-like adsorbents,” said Dr. Wang. “We hope our work provides inspiration for more research into the development of materials that mimic biological organisms” concludes Dr. Wang. Read more here!… More:

The post Synthetic Coral Could Cleanse Oceans appeared first on Reefs.com.

This weeks’ Featured Coral of the Week comes to us from Jason Fox Signature Corals.  Recently I reached out to Jason to see if he had anything new coming out in the way of higher end chalice corals.  Above is a particularly stunning mycedium coral that Jason collected from Indonesia while he was on a dive trip three years ago.   Jason named this the Raja Rampage Chalice.  Jason tells us that it has a solid growth rate and that like many mycedium corals, this coral prefers low to medium lighting and moderate to low flow in the aquarium.   Jason found the Raja Rampage while diving along a remote island where it was located on a ledge at a depth of 60 feet.  The colors are simply amazing

The post Raja Rampage Chalice appeared first on Reefs.com.

I have a massive fondness for basket stars, their fractally configured, furled structure is highly appealing: each arm branching into smaller and smaller versions of itself; they remind me of underwater ferns. Biologically, these animals are echinoderms, that amazing and vast group of animals that includes sea cucumbers, star fish, and crinoids (feather stars and sea lilies).  You’d assume that, given their lifestyle and superficial characteristics, basket stars would be closely related to the Crinoidea family, but they are actually more closely related to brittle stars, and belong to the family Ophiuroidea, sub order Euryalina. 

a diver’s flashlight causes the basket star to furl up

 There is some great video footage online of basket stars underwater. 

two basket stars feeding

 These nocturnal animals aren’t easy to watch; they are very sensitive to light and, if they detect a diver’s light, will quickly fold themselves back up into a fist sized ball that looks a little like an untidy ball of string.  The entire animal can even relocate to a crevice if it feels threatened.  When I do find them on the reef and try to get a good photograph, I have to battle between using a light to get the focus right and getting the shot quickly before the animal furls up again.  Basket stars share the radial symmetry of their brittle star kin, though it might be hard to see this in real life- their ‘arms’ divide much more prolifically, and offer a large surface area on which to capture plankton. The animals are usually found in areas of high, regular current, and situate themselves atop coral bommies or similar structures to await their prey. Several individuals can easily share the same location. The animals featured here are Astroba nuda, photographed in the Red Sea. They can grow to over one meter in diameter and personally I think they rather resemble satellite dishes. I have never heard of them being kept in captivity, but if you have any stories or pictures to share, please leave them in the comments below.… More:

The post Amazing Basket Stars appeared first on Reefs.com.

Researchers from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science have analyzed sediment of deep water reefs ranging from 30-150 meters, in an effort to create a record of ancient biodiversity. Delving into the gunk lead researcher David Weinstein and his team analyzed the sediment of “mesophotic“ coral reef ecosystems, reefs that lack the high levels of light exposure that tropical reefs experience. “Understanding how these important marine ecosystems that we rely on for food and medicines evolved in the past gives us new insight into how to protect them in the future,” said UM Rosenstiel School alumnus and lead author of the study David Weinstein. “The results of this study provide the first analog to understanding how habitat biodiversity in these systems has evolved since the first reef-building ancient ancestors of modern corals.” The research team collected at four different sites including the St. Thomas, U.S.Virgin Islands, as well as two shallower water reef sites and their findings have suggested light tolerant corals and reefs evolved from much deeper, less exposed environments. “The mesophotic reefs of the Virgin Islands are especially vibrant and may contribute to the recovery of shallow reef systems after disturbance,” said Tyler Smith, coauthor of the study and associate research professor at the University of the Virgin Islands.  “Understanding ways that we can detect these systems in the sedimentary record will show us where these systems were in the past and if they also contributed to ancient reef recovery after major coral upheavals in the Caribbean.” Able now to analyze and compare the biodiversity of reefs to those of ancient time will allow researchers to better predict the impacts of current perpetuating conditions. “These findings opens the door for studying the geologic history of how these deep reefs evolved and responded to past environmental change. Over geologic time-scales, mesophotic environments may have played an important role in the long-term sustainability of coral reefs.” adds James Klaus, UM associate professor of geology and coauthor of the study. Read more here!… More:

The post Reef Sediment Studied to Create Record of Diversity appeared first on Reefs.com.

Good morning friends, I know long time right??? Well as I mentioned in my last blog on wednesday we had one crazy week here at Substation, I ended up doing eight dives in three days leaving ZERO time to blog! Friday the waves were so big that we could hardly get the sub in or out of the water and diving was horrible due to poor visibility. Saturday we got the hardest and longest rain of the year, so much in fact that we were unable to take the car anywhere or leave the house, it was fantastic! Because of all the rain I was unable to my weekly mountain bike ride on the trails so my neighbor and I ended up doing a two hour road ride to Vaersenbaai and back.

The post Deep Sea Cucumber appeared first on Reefs.com.

Parapercis natator, a species predominantly found in the Ryukyu Archipelago of Southern Japan. The epithet “natator” is latin for “swimmer”, which aptly describes the behaviour of this unusual species; the species prefers hovering a couple of meters above the substrate, uncharacteristic of other Parapercis spp. Photo credit: Lemon TYK.

 The Philippines and its satellite islands form one of the richest hotspots for biodiversity in the Coral Triangle as well as the Western Pacific Ocean. It is here that many of the characteristically charming species that we’ve come to know and love originate – not just in terms of collection locality, but evolutionary as well. This imaginary, intangible boundary that serves to distinguish the region from its surrounding is deemed as a “biogeographic hotspot of endemism”, and in examination of the diverse fauna of the Indo-Pacific, we find similar examples of endemic biodiversity peppered throughout the region.  

The various biogeographic regions of endemism and regional diversity. Credit: Joe Rowlett.

 The speciation model for most reef fishes follow this biogeographic jigsaw rather faithfully, especially in evolutionary volatile genera like Cirrhilabrus, Pseudanthias, Chrysiptera etc. Unlike species such as the Moorish Idol that occur unchanged throughout these regions, these small fishes with comparatively shorter larval durations are rather incapable of crossing vast expanses of water to colonise new territory as aggressively as the former. As such, they are generally restricted to the regions that they occur in. In the event of population dispersal into neighbouring ecoregions, adaptation and evolution usually occur due to the isolation of genetic flow, leading to speciation and the rise of sister counterparts. This is quite wonderfully seen in Cirrhilabrus, for example, but because evolution is of a continuous and intangible nature, it is not always easy to see; visually at least. In the words of Richard Pyle, I quote, “at some arbitrary point in evolutionary time, the gene flow between populations becomes low enough, and phenotypic/genotypic variation sufficient enough, that a competent taxonomist decides that communication is best served through labeling the populations with different specific epithets.”. In a nutshell. So what does this all mean and how does it relate back to us? The past year has been interesting, to say the least, in that a large handful of previously known “Japanese endemics” have been discovered in the Philippines. These crossover species, naturally, attracted quite the commotion.… More:

The post Cagayan: Straddling the divide between two biogeographical ecoregions appeared first on Reefs.com.

These SPS coral species are a beginner’s best betUpon entering the world of small polyp stony corals (or SPS), many people ask the magic question, “Which types are best for beginners?” In my opinion the most beginner-friendly choices are found in the genera Montipora, Pocillopora, Seriatopora, and Stylophora. Most of the corals I’ll discuss here are commonly available, so there should be a low cost of entry. They’ve also proven fairly hardy in my experience and can be kept in a wider range of parameters than most SPS corals. What’s more, they’re rarely susceptible to the dreaded rapid or slow tissue necrosis (RTN/STN) that you see in Acropora species. General requirements for these SPS coralsCare level: moderate Temperament: peaceful (will not try to attack neighboring corals but will most likely lose to aggressive species) Lighting: moderate to high (of the correct full spectrum) Flow: medium to high Temperature: 72-78F Alkalinity: 8-12 dKH pH: 8.1-8.4 Specific gravity: 1.023-1.025 Preparing for SPS The ultimate practice for these corals is mastering water parameter stability. Don’t chase specific numbers, but if you can keep parameters in the required ranges and stable with very little variance and spikes, you can keep practically any coral. The only other specifics to each coral are placement, which impacts lighting; flow requirements; and whether they need to be fed. These are primarily photosynthetic corals, but additions of amino acids and other elements may help with coloration and growth

The post The Best Beginner Small-Polyp Stony Corals appeared first on Reefs.com.

Good morning, we have three submersible dives today, tomorrow and friday so you may or may not be hearing much from me. I have a little, very delicate Rose Lace coral for you all today that I shot in the mouth of a little cave on our Substation house reef. This hydrocoral form small colonies, with up to 7 cm high by 11 cm wide. Displays branches with serrated appearance. The polyps have an appearance of hair as when extended, have branches with serrated .. The cylindrical branches tapering from base to tip

The post Rose Lace Coral, Stylaster roseus appeared first on Reefs.com.

Photo by areefcreation.com Anemones can reproduce either asexually or sexually.  Each method of reproduction has distinct advantages and disadvantages.  With asexual reproduction, the offspring are genetically identical to the original parent.  Asexual reproduction allows for larger numbers of individual offspring to be produced more quickly with less energy expenditure as compared to sexual reproduction.  In stable marine environments this is a reliable, efficient and effective means of reproduction. However, this lack of genetic diversity in offspring could collapse an entire population of genetically identical animals if environmental pressures were to swing too far from tolerable conditions.  On the other hand, rapid rates of asexual reproduction allows for faster responses to environmental pressures as they are occurring and could raise the rate of survival if

The post Sea Anemone Reproduction appeared first on Reefs.com.

There’s something visceral and eerie about hearing the song of the last male Hawaiian o-o (pronounced oh-oh). The male’s mating call was recorded by scientists prior to the species’ extinction. As the call echoes around the tropical forest, suddenly we realize there will be no return call, this male is the last of his species. The o-o’s call, along with countless other animals sounds are filed away at Cornell Universities’ Bioacoustics research lab. This is the primary message of the new film Racing Extinction (RE). Since humans took over the planet as the dominant animal species, an epoch known as the Anthropocene, countless animal species have gone extinct. To make matters worse, the causes of those extinctions are directly related to the activities of human beings, primarily since the rise of the Industrial Age. As one scientist featured in the film comments, “It’s like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, only this time humanity is the meteor.” So beings an hour and a half journey down the rabbit hole of mass extinction, what it means and how the human race could be living out its last 100 years on Earth, right now.    Racing Extinction is the brainchild of the film making team behind 2009’s The Cove. The Cove used special operations style tactics, high tech hidden cameras and sheer human intelligence to infiltrate the highly guarded Taiji dolphin slaughter in Japan. In fact, The Cove presented the public’s first bird’s eye view of the slaughter, and the film resulted in countless conservation efforts and public pressure. It’s also when the public learned that many of the dolphins rounded up on Taiji are sold to marine parks like Sea World, and in this regard the film was a precursor to the marine mammal park movement still taking place today. Racing Extinction brings back that familiar feeling, and at times you wonder if you’re watching a nature documentary, or an undercover special operations thriller. The film opens as RE’s team busts an upscale Santa Monica, CA restaurant, Hump, for illegally serving whale meat. Since then Hump has been closed, and the owners charged with various environmental crimes. The driving force behind RE is director Louie Psihoyos, the Colorado based film-maker and conservationist. Psihoyos takes us from Hump restaurant in California, where Hollywood producer Ady Gil stages a one man protest against selling whale meat, to tiny islands within the Pacific where manta rays are slaughtered for their gills, a supposed cure in traditional Chinese medicine.… More:

The post Racing Extinction: Film Review appeared first on Reefs.com.

From Annual Report to Congress of the AEC for 1967. US Government via Atomic Skies

 There was a time, in the U.S.’s not-too-distant past, that nuclear power wasn’t as contentious a subject as it is now, and our country’s top researchers and scientists were on the look out for new and interesting ways to use the radioactive isotopes discovered through nuclear research. The most fascinating invention? A nuclear-powered diving suit! 
Throughout the 1940’s, nuclear research and weapon production took place at over 30 sites throughout the United States, the U.K., and Canada, and later, as the need for weapons abated after the war, scientists were tasked with finding alternative uses for the powerful materials in their possession. Highly radioactive isotopes of uranium and plutonium were of particular interest, and Plutonium-238 was studied as a way to provide supplemental heat to scuba divers. 

From US Patent No. 3,402,708. US Government, modified by Atomic Skies for clarity via Atomic Skies

 Plutonium 238 is a slightly more benign isotope (it’s not weapons-grade), and only emits alpha particles – they have trouble passing through a sheet of paper, but they do get very hot and can be used as a heat-to-power source in the form of Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators. RTGs have been used for decades now to power spacecraft, including several current Mars rovers and the Voyager spacecraft. But 60 years ago, scientists considered using RTGs to heat water that would be circulated through a diving suit without any batteries or re-charging (sounds great). From what I can find online, the project was abandoned before it reached completion, perhaps due to a lack of available plutonium, but what an idea! I travel the world scuba diving, and I spend a huge amount of time at airports explaining my curious looking camera kit – can you imagine arriving at LAX with a plutonium-powered dive suit? For more information, I recommend this article.… More:

The post Plutonium-Powered Dive Suit appeared first on Reefs.com.

Let’s face it, if we marine aquarists had our way, every gift we received during the holiday season would be hobby-related. Trouble is, ours is such a specialized pastime that few, if any, of our loved ones really understand it or have any idea what sort of item would be appropriate to buy—that is, of course, unless we sneakily supplant those visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads with some good gift ideas.Last year at this time, we posted a list of items that most marine aquarium hobbyists would be happy to discover under the tree come Christmas morning, including sea salt, aquarium tools, a refractometer, fish food, water parameter test kits, and reference books. This year we’d like to expand upon this list with a few more great ideas. Now, to help your non-hobbyist family members and friends “discover” this list, you might need to print it out and hang it on your refrigerator, tape it to your computer, tuck it into the pages of Look Magazine, or simply leave it lying out in the open somewhere that the targeted gift giver is likely to happen upon it. So, here in no particular order is this year’s list. Note that if you want to surprise the reekfeeper on your list with any of these items, you may need to do a bit of sleuthing or ask a few seemingly innocent questions ahead of time to determine exactly what to buy. #1 RO/DI replacement components If your hobbyist loved one uses an RO/DI system to purify tap water, he or she will most assuredly appreciate receiving some extra carbon blocks, sediment filters, a deionization cartridge, or an RO membrane (if you can find out whether the membrane currently in use is nearing the end of its serviceable life). You may even be able to purchase all the replacement components for the system in a single cost-effective kit.

The post More Holiday Gift Ideas for the Reefkeeper in Your Life appeared first on Reefs.com.

Good morning friends, yours truly is slowly recovering from a 4-hour root canal that I had done yesterday, talk about fun!! I have a Photoshopped “hide and seek” type of photo for you all today of a beautiful little one inch long Spotted Cleaner Shrimp, Periclimenes yucatanicus hiding in a big Giant Anemone. These little shrimps are a favorite subject for underwater photographers as they are easy to find, easy to shoot and are dressed in wild colors, what more could you want in a subject? I personally love the design on their back that resembles a Hawaiian mask, can you see it??  I have to get ready for a sub dive, my colleague Tico will be diving for me today doing the photos while I wait at the surface, will be a few days before I can get back into the wet stuff. Sorry so short, have a great day,  Barry NEWER POST:

The post Spotted Cleaner Shrimp, Periclimenes yucatanicus appeared first on Reefs.com.

There is nothing better than an endangered species success story to show you we can still make a difference and undue damage to our marine life. Yesterday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the removal of the Modoc Sucker from protection under the Endangered Species Act. The Modoc Sucker,a greenish-brown, three-inch long fish, is native to the Pit River basin in southern Oregon and northeastern California. The species has been on the endangered species list since 1985, due to cattle grazing causing pollution of the waterways and non-invasive species threatening the Modoc Sucker’s habitat. in 1985, the Modoc Suckers population was estimated at 1300 fish. This is only the second fish ever removed from the endangered species act.The recovery of the fish is attributed to habitat restoration, including the removal of invasive fish and keeping livestock away from the tributaries. Currently, the population is now doubled, and is estimated at over 2600 fish. “The Endangered Species Act successfully prevented the extinction of the Modoc sucker and spurred habitat restoration that has allowed this native fish to recover,” said Jeff Miller with the Center for Biological Diversity. “By reducing impacts from cattle grazing and ending stocking of invasive fish, management agencies and landowners have allowed suckers to repopulate former habitats in the Pit River and Goose Lake watersheds.” The Fish and Wildlife Service will monitor the Modoc Sucker population for the next 10 years, to ensure the population remains stable. MORE… More:

The post Rare California And Oregon Fish Removed From Endangered Species List appeared first on Reefs.com.

Toys for Kids at Reef2Reef

We’ve mostly recovered from illness and are back with another podcast. This week’s topics include the Reef2Reef Toys for Kids program, the Penn State Student Union tanks, the Vita aquarium, Kohler’s EnCube backup system, clean-up crews, and super-heated water changes. 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

Toys for Kids
Reef2Reef Toys for Kids

Vita aquarium
Vita aquarium Kickstarter page

Kohler enCUBE generator
Kohler enCUBE generator

Cleanup crews
4 Crabby Caveats to Keeping Clibanarius tricolor, Jeff Kurtz, Saltwater Smarts

Cleanup crews
Superheated water changes, Jeremy Gosnell, Reefs.com

NameEmail *

The post Reef Threads Podcast #255 appeared first on Reefs.com.

Pink Hearts Palythoa The Pink Hearts Palys are a beautiful morph with red and pink centers and a contrasting skirt.  Pink and red are two of the more less common colors we see in corals so if you are a zoa or paly collector then this one might be one of your favorites after it begins to reproduce in the aquarium. CARE LEVEL:  Easy TEMPERAMENT: Peaceful PLACEMENT: On Rockwork or Rubble WATER MOVEMENT: Moderate LIGHTING:  Moderate to high Pink Hearts Paly HUSBANDRY SIDE NOTES:  The Pink Hearts Paly tends to do well in brighter lighting than many other Palythoa species. Leave room for colony to expand and watch it grow into a nice colony. About Zoanthid and Palythoa Polyps Zoanthids and Palythoa have been extremely popular

The post Pink Hearts Palythoia appeared first on Reefs.com.