Harlequinmania

A recent study provides strong evidence that mitochondria share a common evolutionary ancestor with a lineage of marine bacteria known as SAR11, arguably the most abundant group of microorganisms on Earth. View the full article

Researchers are testing a new underwater video camera system that will allow scientists to study the propulsion and behavior of jellies in their natural habitat. View the full article

Click through to see the images. This past weekend the Marine Breeding Initiative Workshop 2011 was held at the Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills, MI (Detroit area). Since the workshop was only about 3 hours from where I live, I decided to drive there for the day to meet some of the area breeders and listen to the speakers. After getting lost on the way (address mix-up), I finally made it to the Cranbrook Institute of Science about an hour after the workshop began. Fortunately the first speaker started late and ran long so I was able to still hear quite a bit of the first presentation. Todd Gardner’s presentation was the first presentation of the morning and his talk was about "Rearing difficult marine species." After that, Matt Pederson gave his presentation on "Passion Incarnate and the Ultimate DIY Project: Marine Fishrooms." He led the audience through all of the bullet points that a person would need to address when setting up a breeding room. In addition, he showed many in-depth photos of eleven different breeding rooms and pointed out unique ways these breeders addressed issues with space, lighting, live foods, etc. Following Matt’s presentation, Jay Hemdal talked about his work breeding the boarfish at the Toledo Zoo. It turns out the boarfish is a hard fish to breed and it presented all sorts of problems for Jay and his staff. I talked to Tal Sweet a bit during the conference between sessions. Overall, Tal was very pleased with the turnout this year and was excited about what the next conference in 2012 will yield. He mentioned that last year they had roughly 40 attendeed. This year they had attendance in the upper 50’s with people traveling in from quite a distance. I personally talked to a gentleman over lunch that drove in from Iowa for the event. After lunch, Randy Reed of Reef Nutrition (an Advanced Aquarist sponsor) gave a very in-depth presentation on rotifers and larval nutrition titled "Part 1: Everything you wanted to know about rotifers but were afraid to ask… and Part 2: Far more than you ever wanted to know about rotifers and larviculture nutrition." Randy, as always, wowed the audience with his knowledge of rotifers and phytoplankton. At the end of the presentation, Randy mentioned their new product: Top Dressed Otohime. The below photo shows a batch of clownfish larvae that were split up into three groups: the top-left was a standard growout diet, the top-right was the standard growout diet plus astaxanthin, and the bottom-center one was fed Top Dressed Otohime. The color of the bottom-center fish were much more intense and it's definitely worth a look if you're a breeder. Top Dressed Otohime compared to competing breeder diets. The last speaker of the day was Dr. Matthew Wittenrich who spoke about Trends in Breeding Marine-Aquarium Fishes. He started out with a timeline of where marine ornamental breeding started all the way up to present day and what we need to do to continue to advance the breeding side of the hobby. To conclude the workshop, prizes were given out to attendees: nine copies of the latest issue of Coral Magazine along with a number of other things. Reef Nutrition and Live Aquaria sponsored the workshop and all of the free stuff that was given out at the event was well worth the workshop entrance fee. Reef Nutrition and Live Aquaria freebies! Reef Nutrition provided all sorts of goodies: seven (!!!) sampler packs of their new Top Dressed Otohime (EP1, EP2, C1, C2, B1, B2, and A), workshop lanyards, a copy of Reef Hobbyist Magazine, and product use charts for all of their foods. Live Aquaria (another Advanced Aquarist sponsor) provided a tshirt, Brine Shrimp gel, Marine Chips, Marine Stabilizer, Reef Accelerator, and Sera Marine Granules to each attendee. I encourage every one of our readers to attend in 2012 when the event is held again. View the full article

Very nice and neat SH tank

Wow really is a nano. Be careful not to overstock your nano and since it is running without a skimmer you would need to do constant water change. i feel 2 -3 fishes is the Max you can have for such a small tank size.

Scientists present an alarming assessment of several economically important fish populations. The analysis of 61 commercially important species classified 7 species as threatened with extinction and 4 as "near threatened" for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. View the full article

Scientists present an alarming assessment of several economically important fish populations. The analysis of 61 commercially important species classified 7 species as threatened with extinction and 4 as "near threatened" for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Last week Godehard Kopp posted the video above of a Mimic Octopus, Thaumoctopus mimicus, and an un identifiable fish swimming amongst its arms at the divesite Jahir in the famous muck diving area of Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi Indonesia (the video of the octopus and fish starts at about. :44). Kopp followed the one octopus and fish for 15 minutes filming what appeared to be a previously unknown fish/octopus comensal relationship – a relationship in which one organism derives a benefit while the other is unaffected. Flurries of emails lit up the interwebs as fish and cephalopod and fish enthusiasts tried to determine what was actually going on in the video. Is this a commensal relationship or is something else going on? The colors of the fish were so matched to the arms of the octopus, that it could easily be thought that this fish must have a previously un-described commensal relationship with the octopus. On the other hand, there are small fishes that swim around foraging octopus arms in search of an easy meal, so it could be that this was simply taking advantage of a possible easy meal as the octopus made its way across the muck. On the third hand, these octopus have been photographed and filmed so much in this area of the world that it might be hard to believe that this behavior had never been seen before. Perhaps the fish happened to be in the wrong place and got scared as the Kopp moved to film in, and was trying to hide in the frist thing it found – the octopus. Initially, the fish was thought to be some kind of Blenny, but quickly the tide turned and it was thought to be some kind of Jawfish. Soon a more positive ID was soon made: Black Marble Jawfish, Stalix histrio (or another fish in the Stalix genus) shown below from Indonesian Reef Fishes by Kuiter, R.H. & T. Tonozuka. (2001). Since both the fish and the octopus live in, and are trying to blend in with, the same muck background, it makes some kind of sense that the two should share the same kinds markings and color patterns. Of course, there could still be some relationship between the fish and the octopus, more study is needed, but even if this isn’t commensal, it seems to be a brand new behavior for the fish (and possibly a new fish species!) It was great to watch science in action in regards to this video. Observation, hypothesis, evidence, discussion, new hypothesis changing minds – science rules! View the full article

Click through to see the images. Last week Godehard Kopp posted the video above of a Mimic Octopus, Thaumoctopus mimicus, and an un identifiable fish swimming amongst its arms at the divesite Jahir in the famous muck diving area of Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi Indonesia (the video of the octopus and fish starts at about. :44). Kopp followed the one octopus and fish for 15 minutes filming what appeared to be a previously unknown fish/octopus comensal relationship – a relationship in which one organism derives a benefit while the other is unaffected. Flurries of emails lit up the interwebs as fish and cephalopod and fish enthusiasts tried to determine what was actually going on in the video. Is this a commensal relationship or is something else going on? The colors of the fish were so matched to the arms of the octopus, that it could easily be thought that this fish must have a previously un-described commensal relationship with the octopus. On the other hand, there are small fishes that swim around foraging octopus arms in search of an easy meal, so it could be that this was simply taking advantage of a possible easy meal as the octopus made its way across the muck. On the third hand, these octopus have been photographed and filmed so much in this area of the world that it might be hard to believe that this behavior had never been seen before. Perhaps the fish happened to be in the wrong place and got scared as the Kopp moved to film in, and was trying to hide in the frist thing it found – the octopus. Initially, the fish was thought to be some kind of Blenny, but quickly the tide turned and it was thought to be some kind of Jawfish. Soon a more positive ID was soon made: Black Marble Jawfish, Stalix histrio (or another fish in the Stalix genus) shown below from Indonesian Reef Fishes by Kuiter, R.H. & T. Tonozuka. (2001). Since both the fish and the octopus live in, and are trying to blend in with, the same muck background, it makes some kind of sense that the two should share the same kinds markings and color patterns. Of course, there could still be some relationship between the fish and the octopus, more study is needed, but even if this isn’t commensal, it seems to be a brand new behavior for the fish (and possibly a new fish species!) It was great to watch science in action in regards to this video. Observation, hypothesis, evidence, discussion, new hypothesis changing minds – science rules! View the full article

yes do check out our sponsor section and their store. They should have what you need in reefing

Click through to see the images. xkcd.com View the full article

Click through to see the images. The pain experienced with jellyfish stings is due to the many stinging cells (nematocysts) firing venom-laced 'needles' into your skin. Scientists have spent years researching pain relief for jellyfish stings. While there isn't a silver bullet for all types of jellyfish stings, several trends are clear: Urine is largely ineffective at alleviating pain, contrary to the long-held wive's tale. In fact, urine can make the pain worse (more on this later). Vinegar is better. Vinegar actually neutralizes nematocysts. Vinegar is not a cure-all and may worsen the pain for certain stings such as those from jellyfish's close cousin, the Portuguese Man O' War (if you get stung by one of these, good luck to you!). But with true jellyfish, vinegar is an effective topical solution for relieving pain. If no vinegar is available (who brings vinegar to the beach?), seawater is your next best bet. Use seawater to wash away as much of the stinging cells as possible. Fine beach sand can also be used to gently scrub away stubborn nematocysts. The trick is to avoid applying too much pressure to the effected area. Pressure triggers nematocysts to fire, so gently is the operative word. Unlike seawater, freshwater is about the worst thing you can apply. Freshwater triggers nematocysts to fire. This is why urine can aggravate the pain: Urine (especially from a well-hydrated person) is mostly freshwater. If you're heading out to the beach this summer, watch out for jellyfish, which seem to be invading our beaches (and nuclear power plants) in recent years. And if you are an unlucky victim of jellyfish sting, hopefully this information can help. You might even want to consider packing a bottle of vinegar before you head out for your fun in the sun. You can thank me later. View the full article

Click through to see the images. The pain experienced with jellyfish stings is due to many stinging cells (nematocysts) firing venom-laced 'needles' into your skin. Scientists have spent years researching pain relief for jellyfish stings. While there isn't a silver bullet for all types of jellyfish stings, several trends are clear: Urine is largely ineffective at alleviating pain, contrary to the long-held wive's tale. In fact, urine can make the pain worse (more on this later). Vinegar is better. Vinegar actually neutralizes nematocysts. Vinegar is not a cure-all and may worsen the pain for certain stings such as those from jellyfish's close cousin, the Portuguese Man O' War (if you get stung by one of these, good luck to you!). But with true jellyfish, vinegar is an effective topical solution for relieving pain. If no vinegar is available (who brings vinegar to the beach?), seawater is your next best bet. Use seawater to wash away as much of the stinging cells as possible. Fine beach sand can also be used to gently scrub away stubborn nematocysts. The trick is to avoid applying too much pressure to the effected area. Pressure triggers nematocysts to fire, so gently is the operative word. Unlike seawater, freshwater is about the worst thing you can apply. Freshwater triggers nematocysts to fire. This is why urine can aggravate the pain: Urine (especially from a well-hydrated person) is mostly freshwater. If you're heading out to the beach this summer, watch out for jellyfish, which seem to be invading our beaches (and nuclear power plants) in recent years. And if you are an unlucky victim of jellyfish sting, hopefully this information can help. You might even want to consider packing a bottle of vinegar before you head out for your fun in the sun. You can thank me later. View the full article

After collecting weathered crude oil from the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, researchers have reported that only 8 to 9 percent coverage on the shells of fertilized mallard duck eggs resulted in a 50 percent mortality rate. View the full article

Click through to see the images. The staff at Deep Sea World in North Queensferry, Scotland have removed the fry into their own nursery tank for their own safety. The babies are reportedly progressing nicely. If all goes according to plan, the new piranhas will be reintroduced to the main shoal in a few months. There are 35 species of piranhas, but only about half are carnivorous. The red bellied piranha is the most notorious of all piranha species, having achieved mythical status as swarming, mindless, flesh-tearing Amazonian monsters. Much of their reputation is sensationalized media hype. Visit Piranha Fury's website if you are interested in keeping and/or breeding the red bellied piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri). Make sure to first check if it is legal to own red bellied piranha in your state or country. via Small World News Service View the full article

Since someone ask, i forget to mention that it come with a 3 ft ( 36" ) metal Rack which can be install on a 3 footer as well. This light is suitable for 2ft or 3ft tank. I am reducing the starting bid price to make it more attractive to start with

Maybe you would like to consider using a stronger return pump. A higher turnover, will be better especially if you want to keep SPS in future. You can consider Ocean runner 8500 ( 8500 / litres per hr ) or other stronger flow pump. For cal reactor, a good one would definitely from Deltec, but you can also consider using dosing as well for ease of maintenance. Hope to see your tank thread and photo here soon

A scientist, analyzing ancient plankton DNA signatures in sediments of the Black Sea, has found for the first time that the same genetic populations of a virus and its algal host can persist and coexist for centuries. The findings have implications for the ecological significance of viruses in shaping algae ecosystems in the ocean, and perhaps fresh water as well. View the full article

Hemlock woolly adelgid has devastated hemlock forests from Georgia to Maine. Now a scientist has developed a treatment called a "fungal microfactory." In infested trees, a sprayed-on fungus mixture brought down populations of adelgid, while in adjacent control trees, that were not treated, the pest population tripled. This approach, using low-cost sweet whey as a growth medium, seems likely to provide cost-effective, long-term protection for hemlock trees. View the full article

Prof. Yoav Gothilf of Tel Aviv University says that his discovery of the genetic resemblances between the zebrafish and the human body is a breakthrough for continuing research on the still mysterious circadian system. View the full article

A dolphin's ability to heal quickly from a shark bite with apparent indifference to pain, resistance to infection, hemorrhage protection, and near-restoration of normal body contour might provide insights for the care of human injuries, according to experts. Researchers interviewed dolphin handlers/marine biologists, and reviewed the limited literature about dolphin healing to offer some new observations. View the full article

The fastest way to reduce your high N03 is to do a major water change with either seawater or salt mix with RO/DI water. Maybe you would also like to double confirm the reading of your N03 with your test kit as well, if there isn't any significant changes to your live stocks before you leave which might cause the fluctuation in parameter.

Click through to see the images. Prognathodes basabei is an extremely deep water Hawaiian species, only discovered in 1998 and recently identified as a new species. In 2009, three specimens were collected at 450 feet (135m) deep, selling for $6,000 per fish (one speciemen sadly died of decompression problems shortly after arrival in Japan). Read Glassbox Design's blog about the newly collected specimen. The video shows a very healthy and beautiful specimen showing no symptoms of decompression ailments. Due to the depths this species is collected, divers are required to take many hours to properly decompress the fish (and themselves). The video also shows several stunning Odontanthias fuscippinis in the same tank. This extremely rare Anthias is also a Hawaiian species that shares its natural deep water habitat with the Orange Margin Butterflyfish. What you see in the video is tens of thousands of dollars of healthy, ultra rare, ultra deep-water Hawaiian endemics. View the full article

A prehistoric crocodile thought to have originated in Europe now appears to have been a Texas native, new research shows. The switch for the genus Terminonaris is based on the identification of a well-preserved fossil snout that was discovered near the waters edge of a Dallas-area lake. The 96-million-year-old fossil is the oldest of its kind worldwide, indicating Terminonaris likely originated in Texas and dispersed northward. View the full article

A "four-eyed" fish that sees simultaneously above and below the water line has offered up a dramatic example of how gene expression allows organisms to adapt to their environment. View the full article