Name That Shrimp – Ebay Auction to Name New Species

March 22, 2009

Name That Shrimp – Ebay Auction to Name New Species

You don't need to be the adventuring type or dedicate your life to discovery to have a new species named after you - just have an Ebay account. The Australian Marine Conservation Society put an auction up on Ebay in which the winning bidder will get the right to name a new species of Lebbeus shrimp discovered only recently in the deep seas of southwest Australia. Hey, naming rights are sold all the time - why not? All proceeds go to saving the oceans, and, though welcome to bid, no corporate names are allowed - great in my opinion - the last thing we need is Lebbeus verizonwirelis.

Submission

February 6, 2009

Submission

I thought this pic of my male A. percula clownfish getting totally dominated was funny. The look in his eyes cracks me up.

Inch Long Vertebrates – Pygmy Seahorse Photos at Nat Geo

February 5, 2009

Inch Long Vertebrates – Pygmy Seahorse Photos at Nat Geo

Mother Nature never ceases to impress. Nor do National Geographic’s photos for that matter. These photos of recently discovered Pygmy Seahorse species are just awesome. My favorite is the fourth one down, sitting inside the polyp of an octocoral – really puts it in perspective. Check the photographs out…

A Paper Ocean

January 30, 2009

A Paper Ocean

In kind of a throwback to an old post on Glassbox Design, and adding to one of his more recent posts “The Remarkable Pico Reef of Marcelo“, I happened across some of Marcelo’s marine inspired artwork on flickr.  His ‘Marcelocean’ collection of paper sculptures bear such titles as “Basslets & Soft Coral”, “Dascyllus aruanus & [...]

Tank nightmares

January 23, 2009

Tank nightmares

Now why would you want to pull out all these rocks with gorgeous, encrusted colonies? This may give me nightmares… One can only hope to never find something like this in their tank. The unfortunate reality is, you may already have one <cue theme from JAWS> From Zeovit.com: “The hunt for a 4 foot coral [...]

AIMS Coral Search Back Online…?

January 13, 2009

AIMS Coral Search Back Online…?

AIMS (Australian Institute of Marine Science) CORAL SEARCH BACK ONLINE?! LINK & LOVE If you hadn’t taken notice, the old Coral Search identification site has been down for quite some time, but it now seems to be back in a new and improved version! Forgive me if this is old news (!!!), but I was unaware it [...]

Chicago Graffiti Reef Fish – I’d paint 3 murals for some of that @$$…

December 7, 2008

Chicago Graffiti Reef Fish – I’d paint 3 murals for some of that @$$…

Took a walk yesterday and noticed this neighborhood mural has been updated at least semi-recently. The paint looked fresher (here’s a link to the old one on Google Maps street view), maybe a couple months old. Wonder if the artist has a tank? Click for larger view of any.

Status Report

December 2, 2008

Status Report

Been a while since any update on my tank, so … A few changes in the last couple months, well, all changes but water changes . I switched out the Iwasaki 50K bulb in favor of a Radium 20K. I like this bulb as well, and will stick with rotating the Ushio 14K, Iwasaki 50K [...]

Surprisingly Cute

October 7, 2008

Surprisingly Cute

Deepest living fish ever filmed. Story @BBC News… . It’s exciting to me to imagine what we might find in 10, 20 or 50 years… remember that movie “The Abyss”…?! “The “deepest ever” living fish have been discovered, scientists believe. A UK-Japan team found the 17-strong shoal at depths of 7.7km (4.8 miles) in the Japan Trench [...]

The Real World – Wildlife of Ngamiland

September 22, 2008

The Real World – Wildlife of Ngamiland

Tank is a bit of a mess but mind is clear… Am I back in the “real world” now, or have I just returned from a visit to it? … no question… Whether the remote cold tundra, open savanna, or some meters under on an atoll, pulling away every now and then, zero contact, is [...]

The deep – Magnapinna Squid

August 28, 2008

The deep – Magnapinna Squid

Coral Morphologic posted an unreal video today, taken from an oil rig almost 8,000′ under. Check this thing out. Out of this world. The truth is out there … or under there…

Decisions… or, Fluke Tabs and Sad Clowns?

July 30, 2008

Decisions… or, Fluke Tabs and Sad Clowns?

I’ve got a small dilemma. Per usual, as in, every summer, I get a little lax about tank maintenance. So this last week has been spent doing a bit of cleaning, water changes, scrubbing, scraping, rearranging, and what not. The dilemma is this: Xenia umbellata. I know it’s the scourge of many reef tanks out [...]

Hobby Gear > Public Aquarium Gear?

July 16, 2008

Hobby Gear > Public Aquarium Gear?

In some sad news I heard on the commute today, The Brookfield Zoo just outside Chicago came in to 16 dead stingrays in their temporary “Stingray Bay” exhibit. The temperature controls reportedly malfunctioned, and they came in to 90*F water and 16 dead stingrays. I can’t help but think… controller? As a hobbiest, I have access [...]