Harlequinmania

Click through to see the images. (note: If the embedded video is choppy in Internet Explorer, click the youtube button at the bottom right of each video to watch the video in youtube. Advanced Aquarist recommends Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, or Apple Safari web browsers.) Read the Reef2Reef thread. World Wide Coral's 293 gallon reef tank also houses a Black Tang, Chevron Tang, Yellow Tang, Achilles Tang, and Convict Tang, in additional to various other wrasses and fishes. If you're in the Orlando area, be sure to check out WWC's White Tang, impressive display tanks, and the incredible "Jason Fox" Chalice Corals. View the full article

Click through to see the images. (note: If the embedded video is choppy in Internet Explorer, click the youtube button at the bottom right of each video to watch the video in youtube. Advanced Aquarist recommends Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, or Apple Safari web browsers.) Read the Reef2Reef thread. World Wide Coral's 293 gallon reef tank also houses a Black Tang, Chevron Tang, Yellow Tang, Achilles Tang, and Convict Tang, in additional to various other wrasses and fishes. View the full article

In the first report on the uptake and internal processing of triclocarban (TCC) in fish, scientists have reported strong evidence that TCC -- the source of environmental health concerns because of its potential endocrine-disrupting effects -- has a "strong" tendency to bioaccumulate in fish. View the full article

Click through to see the images. The Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna University, Pisa, Italy in conjunction with groups from Switzerland, Israel, Greece, and Italy have embarked on a research project to completely replicate the plasticity, skill, and agility of a live octopus. The below video is pretty eerie in its similarity to octopus arm movement: Currently as the above YouTube video shows, they have been able to replicate one arm of an octopus in its dexterity as well as its suckers. They have still to make the seven other arms work in conjunction with each other; However they're only two years into their four year project. We look forward to seeing how this project progresses! (via Cephalove) View the full article

Scientists studying the cooperative hunting behavior of killer whales in Antarctic waters observed the animals favoring one type of seal over all other available food sources, according to a new study. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Lead time is approximately 3-6 weeks for custom units. Orphek LEDs are available at www.Marine.Depot.com For more info or to order, contact one of our dealers, or send us an email: US, UK, & CA customers: usa@orphek.com All other countries: info@orphek.com View the full article

Click through to see the images. Lead time is approximately 3-6 weeks for custom units. Orphek LEDs are available at www.Marine.Depot.com You can find more information about Orphek's PR-156 as well as their other LED systems at www.orphek.com For more info or to order, contact one of their dealers, or send Orphek an email: US, UK, & CA customers: usa@orphek.com All other countries: info@orphek.com View the full article

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 devastated the Gulf of Mexico ecologically and economically. However, a new study reveals that the true impact of the disaster on wildlife may be gravely underestimated. The study argues that fatality figures based on the number of recovered animal carcasses will not give a true death toll, which may be 50 times higher than believed View the full article

Click through to see the images. So what is the EcoDiver program? EcoDiver is an unique Reef Check program designed to expand the monitoring of reefs by leveraging recreational divers as monitors. Reef Check is an international non-profit organization dedicated to conservation of two ecosystems: tropical coral reefs and California rocky reefs. To become a certified EcoDiver, potential applicants must take the 3-day EcoDiver certification course and pass a PowerPoint ID test (80%) and field test (90% to pass) to obtain a regional certification card (different regions have different tests, likely due to different species a diver must learn). Once certified, EcoDivers can submit MS Excel data sheets to Reef Check headquarters for the purpose of monitoring reefs in regions the EcoDiver is certified for. According to Reef Check's website: Using the globally standardized scientific protocol, the Reef Check EcoDiver program collects valuable data to establish the status of coral reefs world wide. The data are analyzed and used locally by marine park managers, nationally by fisheries and environment managers and internationally by organizations including United Nations agencies to help better track and care for coral reefs Certified EcoDivers have the opportunity to participate in Reef Check EcoExpeditions - week-long+ expeditions to various coral reef locations such as the Maldives, Oman, and Honduras - where EcoDivers will work alongside scientists to help survey reefs. EcoDiver is an interesting approach to reef conservation and monitoring, wouldn't you say? View the full article

Click through to see the images. The new spectrum has not been announced yet (even Kessil's own), but Advanced Aquarist has confirmed Kessil intends the new 6,700K system for freshwater/planted tank applications. This spectrum may also prove to be good grow-lights for refugiums. Kessil has no timeline for the release of the 10,000K, 20,000K, and newly annoucned 6,700K systems. While we're at, they've also posted another video of the 15,000K A150W pendant in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO97hhAB-7k View the full article

Click through to see the images. Just this past week, we OK'd the final proof of our latest Advanced Aquarist book -- Book II of the 2010 Volume, and it will be available on Amazon.com within a week or two. The book measures 8"x10" and is 100% color, 122 pages in length, and comprises our July through December 2010 articles. James Wiseman of WetPixel.com and reefpix.org is the photographer of the awesome cover photo (above). In celebration of the publication of the book, we would like to offer you, our readers, a chance to win copies of the 2010 Print Editions -- both Books I and II. This set is a $65 value, and we're offering you a chance to win both! All you have to do to enter is to log into our commenting system (powered by Disqus) using your Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo!, OpenID, or Disqus accounts and post one comment (and only one comment per reader!) as to why you'd like a copies of the Advanced Aquarist 2010 books. You must be logged into Disqus for your comment to count as Advanced Aquarist will need a way to contact the winner. This contest ends April 15th at midnight, when we will close the comments and randomly pick a winner. If you'd like to purchase copies of our older print editions, check out our bookstore highlighting our books from 2006 onwards. Purchasing Advanced Aquarist books is a great way to have a permanent copy of our articles. All revenue from book sales goes back into this website, keeping the quality content free for everyone to read. Now get commenting! View the full article

Click through to see the images. According to the New York Times article, Harry Coover died at age 94 on Saturday night of congestive heart failure. Dr. Coover first discovered super glue when he worked for Eastman Kodak while working on a project for making clear plastic gun sights in 1942. Cyanoacrylates (the chemical structure of super glue) were one of the materials that were initially evaluated and quickly discarded as it was too sticky. Later while working on other projects, cyanoacrylates were again evaluated. This time around, however, Dr. Coover realized the unique properties that this adhesive embodied and later patented it. He also was the first to realize its applications as a tissue adhesive and it was extensively used in war zones (Vietnam in particular) to temporarily bond war wounds until proper surgery could be performed in a M.A.S.H. unit. Since then it has gained common usage as a surgical adhesive in sutureless applications. These unique tissue bonding properties and its quick moisture setting make it an ideal adhesive for mounting coral frags to frag mounting items such as live rock rubble or frag plugs. (via Gresham Hendee, Reef Nutrition) View the full article

Click through to see the images. Some of the corals discovered in the raid had already been bleached and left to dry, while others sat in shallow pools of water. The reports suggest most of these corals were likely destined for curio trade or as "filling material" (the reports did not clarify this statement). Sec. 91 of the Philippine Republic Act 8550, the Fisheries Code of 1998 states: Ban on Coral Exploitation and Exportation. - It shall be unlawful for any person or corporation to gather, possess, sell or export ordinary precious and semi-precious corals, whether raw or in processed form, except for scientific or research purposes. Sadly, these types of seizures are not uncommon. This raid is a relatively small one in the Philippine's history; In fact, just earlier this month (March 10, 2011), Cebu officials seized 1.4 tons of illegal corals. Cebu is a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu Island and 167 surrounding islands. sources: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2011/03/28/task-force-seizes-rare-sea-corals-147249 and http://cdn.ph/news_details.php?id=9246 View the full article

Click through to see the images. Published on March 8th in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers Chris Perry, Michael Salter, and others published a paper entitled "Fish as Major Carbonate Mud Producer and Missing Components of the Tropical Carbonate Factory." In this paper, they show that tropical marine fish produce and excrete in their waste precipitated calcium carbonate of a very fine particle size (most < 2 µm in diameter) and that this amount of excreted calcium carbonate is quite substantial accounting for on average 14% of all the calcium carbonate mud in the area. The researchers made some calculations based on the amount of calcium carbonate excreted by the collective biomass of fish in the Bahaman archipelago: 6.1x106 kg calcium carbonate / year. The Bahaman archipelago is ∼111,577 km2 (43,000 mi2) and this mass of calcium carbonate is equivalent to over 37 blue whales in mass (a blue whale, the largest whale on the planet, is on average 180 tons). They also found that the particle shapes excreted by the eleven species of fish studied in this paper (barracuda, schoolmaster, etc) in the Great Bahama Bank were diverse and highly species dependent and could be identified in sedimentary analysis of the marine mud in the area. These shapes ranged from dumbbell-shaped to spheroid depending on the species. The researchers conclude that: Fish thus represent a hitherto unrecognized but significant source of fine-grained carbonate sediment, the discovery of which has direct application to the conceptual ideas of how marine carbonate factories function both today and in the past. View the full article

Click through to see the images. (note: If the embedded video is choppy in Internet Explorer, click the youtube button at the bottom right of each video to watch the video in youtube. Advanced Aquarist recommends Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, or Apple Safari web browsers.) The nighttime dive captures bizarre reef denizens after-hours (to the tune of Massive Attack's eerie soundtrack). Starting around 2:00 into the video, we see the amazing Flamboyant Cuttlefish (Metasepia pfefferi) displaying a stunning "light show" while stalking its prey. Read Rich Ross' Advanced Aquarist article: "Metasepia pfefferi – the aptly named Flamboyant Cuttlefish" for more information about this amazing cephalopod. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLcKzcvkoI0 Here's the daytime counterpart, with a lot of reef life hobbyist are very familiar with. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as5zL5Udg1M View the full article

Click through to see the images. If you are a student either entering or are currently attending an accredited North American college or university as either an undergraduate or graduate with a declared major in the marine sciences, you are eligible to enter to win this $2500 scholarship. The selection will be made by committee and the criteria will be based on the student's academic history and their contribution and commitment to the marine aquarium hobby. In order to be entered, you will need to download the application from MASNA's website and complete it in addition to preparing a Personal Statement, submitting your current resume, and obtaining an official transcript from your current educational body. For information on where to send the information and on the scholarship in general, please see MASNA's official web page on the scholarship. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Events Pre-Show The Mountain West Reef Fest is known for going above and beyond. We're following up last year's pre-show with another rockin' party. The night before the show is where the true party takes place. Join us for the Fish 4 U Salt Mixer. Speakers, vendors, and attendees will all be there for some drinks, appetizers, dinner, fun games, and most of all a chance to hang out with the best of the best. We highly advise attendees to take advantage of this event. No where else can you sit and have dinner with the greatest professionals in the hobby. It is a perfect opportunity to get inside information on the industry, and you can get personal attention asking people questions about your tank! Located right next door to the conference hotel, this Pre Show party will certainly be a hit once again. Reefscape Contest The Mountain West Reef Fest has been selected as a site for the regional Reefscape Competition! A selection committee will make an announcement on who the competitors will be. This contest is huge! Come and watch the competitors compete and cheer on your favorite. Will one of our local contestants move on to compete in a National Reefscape Competition??? We'll let you know more as the contest details become available. Workshops The Mountain West Reef Fest is proud to offer a number of workshops. Reef Aquarists, Scuba Divers, and Undersea Enthusiasts will be giving hands on demonstrations and intimate workshops. Take your knowledge of aquatic life to a whole new level with these presentations. Industry Professionals Our Industry Professionals are the heart and sould of the Mountain West Reef Fest. An abundance of top notch speakers, special guests and industry leaders are on hand. This is your chance to learn from the best of the best with cutting edge information and research. Come and see the latest developments in aquatic husbandry. Everything from energy efficient high output led lighting systems to nutritional foods and even premium coral frags. Our vendors and exhibitors will show you a wide array of developments and products. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Introduced by Vice Speaker Benjamin J.F. Cruz (Guam Senate), Bill No. 120-31 (LS), the “Coral Reef Protection Act," outlines civil penalties and fines to be assessed on marine vessls that may run aground, strike coal reefs, and/or release pollutants, consequently causing harm to coral reefs. In essence, the bill will make operators of marine vessels solely responsible for any damage they cause to reefs, including compensation for restoration. The bill also includes the establishment of a Coral Reef Restoration Fund. All proceeds from penalties will go into this fund (not commingled with their general fund) with the designated purpose of monitoring and restoring Guam's coral reefs. The "Coral Reef Protection Act" comes at a particularly relevant time in Guam's history; With the signing of Programmatic Agreement, Guam is expected to see a lot more ship traffic in the coming years (especially vessels operated by the United States military). Click to view the PDF of Bill No. 120-31 (LS) View the full article

After the biggest mass extinction in Earth's history -- 250 million years ago -- algae and bacteria in the ocean rebounded so fast that they consumed virtually all the oxygen in the sea, slowing the recovery of the rest of marine animals for several million years. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Every year, a spectacular natural event occurs off the western coast of Australia. For four days, corals begin broadcast spawning en masse. This spawning event coincides with the lowest tide, seven to ten nights after a full moon. So many gametes are released during these four days that it colors large swathes of coastal water a bright red (similar to "red tide" dinoflagellate blooms, which this spawning event has often been confused for). The coral spawn, however, is not without potential risk to reef health ... this year in particular. 2010-2011 has been a La Nina season, meaning warmer waters off Western Australia as well as calmer seas. The risk is the spawning event could reduce oxygen levels and threaten corals, fish, and the reef as a whole. This is due to the higher temperature (water has less capacity to hold oxygen) and calm ocean current (unable to "flush" and distribute the gametes) Still, spawning events are spectacular sights to behold and will attract thousands of visitors to Western Australia. And thousands (if not millions) of coral "babies" is good news for reef lovers everywhere. source: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/spawning-coral-set-to-impress-20110324-1c81u.html View the full article

Click through to see the images. Every year, a spectacular natural event occurs off the western coast of Australia. For four days, corals begin broadcast spawning en masse. This spawning event coincides with the lowest tide, seven to ten nights after a full moon. So many gametes are released during these four days that it colors large swathes of coastal water a bright red (similar to "red tide" dinoflagellate blooms, which this spawning event has often been confused for). The coral spawn, however, is not without potential risk to reef health ... this year in particular. 2010-2011 has been a La Nina season, meaning warmer waters off Western Australia as well as calmer seas. The risk is the spawning event could reduce oxygen levels and threaten corals, fish, and the reef as a whole. This is due to the higher temperature (water has less capacity to hold oxygen) and calm ocean current (unable to "flush" and distribute the gametes) Still, spawning events are spectacular sights to behold and will attract thousands of visitors to Western Australia. And thousands (if not millions) of coral "babies" is good news for reef lovers everywhere. source: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/spawning-coral-set-to-impress-20110324-1c81u.html View the full article

Click through to see the images. Since going live with our new website, we've had a lot of interest in knowing how to keep abreast of our latest articles, blog posts, and events that we post here on a daily basis. We currently have five ways you can stay connected with our latest content: 1. Follow us on Facebook As of today, we have greater than 1,100 Facebook fans. Join on our Facebook Page and keep up to date with the articles and blogs from our website and our news feed. We only post our best content (1-2 posts per day). 2. Subscribe to our RSS Feed RSS is a great way to stay connected with Advanced Aquarist -- especially if you live in Google Reader like I do. Articles, blog posts, and events are all syndicated to our RSS feed and show up within within an hour of us posting new content on our website. 3. Follow us on Twitter For our tweeters, subscribe to Advanced Aquarist's tweet at http://twitter.com/aaolm. Clients like TweetDeck make this a nice way to keep on top of all of the people you follow. 4. Subscribe to our eMail list For those of you that would rather be emailed updates from us, we offer an email subscription (over 3,100 subscribers to date). Send an email to reefs-newsletter-subscribe@reefs.org to be instantly subscribed to our email list. Not to worry about email clutter ... This is a low volume list, with emails only going out 1-2 times per month. 5. Create a Disqus account Lastly, register for a Disqus account and use it to post comments on our site. With an account, you will be instantly updated when anyone comments on a post you're subscribed to. Enjoy! View the full article

Click through to see the images. Since going live with our new website, we've had a lot of interest in knowing how to keep abreast of our latest articles, blog posts, and events that we post here on a daily basis. We currently have five ways you can stay connected with our latest content: 1. Follow us on Facebook As of today, we have greater than 1,100 Facebook fans. Join on our Facebook Page and keep up to date with the articles and blogs from our website and our news feed. We only post our best content (1-2 posts per day). 2. Subscribe to our RSS Feed RSS is a great way to stay connected with Advanced Aquarist -- especially if you live in Google Reader like I do. Articles, blog posts, and events are all syndicated to our RSS feed and show up within within an hour of us posting new content on our website. 3. Follow us on Twitter For our tweeters, subscribe to Advanced Aquarist's tweet at http://twitter.com/aaolm. Clients like TweetDeck make this a nice way to keep on top of all of the people you follow. 4. Subscribe to our eMail list For those of you that would rather be emailed updates from us, we offer an email subscription (over 3,100 subscribers to date). Send an email to reefs-newsletter-subscribe@reefs.org to be instantly subscribed to our email list. Not to worry about email clutter ... This is a low volume list, with emails only going out 1-2 times per month. 5. Create a Disqus account Lastly, register for a Disqus account and use it to post comments on our site. With an account, you will be instantly updated when anyone comments on a post you're subscribed to. Enjoy! View the full article

The more anchovies grow, the greater the probability of their survival, and it is precisely those born at the peak of the season of egg-laying and promptly moving out to the ocean area which enjoy optimum growth. These are the key factors to good recruitment, according to new research. View the full article

The more anchovies grow, the greater the probability of their survival, and it is precisely those born at the peak of the season of egg-laying and promptly moving out to the ocean area which enjoy optimum growth. These are the key factors to good recruitment, according to new research. View the full article