From 3reef.com member 'evolved' (click link to go to his thread ):

My johnsoni pair spawns several times a week. This has been going on for months now. It happens every evening; the male goes into nuptial display around 9:30. This is at the end of the ramp down of the whites, which shut off at 9:30 and then it's all blues until they ramp down and off at 10:30. The male will be in nuptial display for up to an hour. While he courts the female every night, she generally complies and does the dance with him, but she isn't able to produce eggs every day, and never on consecutive days. So some days are just a "dry run" it seems.

However, last night I was finally watching AND recording at the right time. Take a look. You'll note the rhomboid come over and wait for the feast when the pair start their routine. Then him and the male johnsoni are clearly eating eggs from the water column. I don't think the male was quite ready for the female here; he usually swims right along side her when she releases, and you see a quick cloud behind them both.

“We’re looking at human vision and trying to recreate the same sort of experience in remote locations. The more we can put the scientist’s or pilot’s or observer’s brain down in a remote location, the better the experience for everyone,” states William Lange at WHOI’s Advanced Imaging and Visualization Laboratory.

The new camera fits in the palm of your hand and is affixed to underwater ROV's allowing researchers to see underwater locations in IMAX quality 3D, which will allow for better observation of target areas. The system uses a unique 3-camera configuration to provide the 3-dimensional view whereas traditional 3D systems use only two cameras.  The new camera system may also provide new and improved applications on land as well.

“These tools open up all sorts of possibilities,” says Lange, “but like any new technology, how you use the tools is almost as important as the tools themselves.”

(via PNAS)

Product Release (via Reef-Eden):

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We are pleased to announce the release of the very latest MATRIXX-II T5 light units available from Giesemann Aquaristic which are exclusive to Reef-Eden. These new lights retain Giesemann's stunning build quality and reliability offset against a price that puts them head to head with the competition.

You may recognise the style as one of the most stunning designs to hit the aquatic market in recent years, and you would be right. With bodywork borrowed directly from Giesemann's flagship FUTURA LED range, the MATRIXX-II utilises a full assortment of features borrowed from its bigger brother, but in T5 format.

STYLE WITH UNCOMPROMISING BUILD QUALITY

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Unlike many T5 units that have outer bodies constructed from simple thin pre-fabricated metal sheet held together by rivets. The MATRIXX-II uses an outer chassis constructed of heavy duty extruded and formed aluminium alloy, into which the components are hand assembled, before being topped off with an exquisite upper glass panel, whilst the underside gets the addition of a high quality acrylic splash screen as standard to ensure both the tubes and high efficiency reflector are protected from splashing or spray from air stones or surface located pumps. The outer chassis is also coated in a tough anti-corrosion anodised silver finish, or painted in high gloss pure white.  Each element that makes up the outer chassis is painted or anodised pre-production to ensure that all faces (including joints and internal faces) are completely protected to limit salt or water ingression thereby reducing the risks of corrosion over extended use even in the most demanding situations.

LOOKING BEYOND THE SURFACE

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Whereas many manufactures use cheaper ballasts and other materials to keep costs down, Giesemann understand that price is nothing without reliability. Each MATRIXX-II is assembled using only the finest quality internals, from lamp holders and wiring, right up to and including high quality ballasts that are chosen for durability, stability and reliable output. The lamps sit in front of a dedicated highly polished aluminium reflector that is 99.8% reflective and profiled via CAD software to offer the best possible transfer of light back to the aquarium in an evenly distributed manner.

KEEPING THINGS STABLE

When designing any light fixture, temperature control is a crucial factor to both maintain the lifespan of the components and lamps, but also to maintain output at optimum levels. Too hot, and the lamps lifespan and output is reduced costing the user money, Too cold and the lamp wont reach optimum operating temperature resulting in lowered performance. The MATRIXX-II uses both passive and active cooling. Passive cooling occurs by direct heat transfer to the aluminium outer chassis and upper glass panel that acts as an inbuilt heat diffuser, whilst active cooling and air circulation is taken care of by way of two inbuilt fans. this ensures that the MATRIX-II runs at the perfect operating temperature to ensure good lamp lifespan and optimum output.

CONTROL WITH EASE

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Dependent on the number of tubes in the unit, each MATRIXX-II comes with separate power cords to control groups of lamps. Independent times can then be set to recreate sunrise / sunset by way of using simple segment or digital wall timers or an aquarium computer switchable plug-bar to control each bank of lamps.

Dimmable versions are available upon request (requires use of dimmable interface and applicable) .

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

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Availability: Now

Prices:

Please note: All units are supplied without tubes.

MORE INFORMATION

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http://www.reef-eden-international.com/GIESEMANN%20MATRIXX-II.htm

They found the order of coral abundance (from highest to lowest) around the main Hawaiian Islands to be Porites lobata,Montipora patula, Pocillopora meandrina, Montipora capitata, Porites compressa, and Montipora flabellata.

Environmental factors (wave energy, shape of the seafloor, water clarity, depth, rugosity (roughness of the seafloor), geological island age, and organic sediment content) are known to influence Hawaiian reefs. However, this is the first study to systematically examine the influence of these factors on the distribution and abundance of coral species across the entire seascape of shallow reefs in the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI).

"Average wave height and maximum wave height were the most influential variables explaining coral abundance in the Hawaiian Islands," reported Erik Franklin, lead author of the study and Assistant Research Professor at the UHM Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. "Our models also identified relationships between coral cover and island age, depth, sunlight, rugosity, slope, and aspect (direction a slope faces)."

In general, coral cover was predicted to be highest in primarily wave-sheltered coastlines and embayments. Reefs with highest cover were concentrated in Kaneohe Bay on Oahu; the wave-sheltered reefs of Molokai, Lanai, Maui, and Kahoolawe; and the Kohala coast of Hawaii.

To construct the species distribution and abundance models, researchers integrated field surveys for corals (data provided by the US National Park Service and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) with environmental data of wave exposure (data provided by UHM Department of Ocean and Resources Engineering), benthic geomorphology, and sunlight from 2000 to 2009.

Regional-scale mapping of coral species from these models provide a framework for population modeling and marine spatial planning of Hawaiian coral reefs. The geographic characterization of coral reefs would benefit greatly from the improved coral distribution and abundance information generated from coral distribution models. Data from these models can be incorporated into marine conservation plans or used for threat assessments to reefs.

"For example," Franklin says, "our results were recently used in the management plan review process of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary as they considered the distribution and abundance of animals other than whales."

One advantage of this integrative, modeling approach is that researchers are able to consider a broader range of areas than field surveys alone and, therefore, can provide a truer picture of total abundance. "We were most surprised at the high relative abundance of Montipora patula which is currently under consideration for listing as a threatened or endangered species," reported Franklin. Montipora flabellata, the other coral species under consideration as a threatened or endangered species, was not as abundant as the other five species.

Franklin and colleagues are in the process of extending the modeling approach to include additional marine species in Hawaii such as reef fish and include additional environmental variables to try to improve the predictive capacity of the models. Ideally the results will continue to inform marine resource management in the Hawaiian Islands.

(Press Release: EurekAlert)

Operators of Seawalkers at Green Island, Australia (GBR) have an attention-starved fish in their waters.  Gavin has become a tourist attraction in and of himself.  And can you blame people for wanting to meet him?  Just look at that silly, toothy grin!  Visit Mail Online to read more about Gavin.

Sometime between 7.30 PM on Saturday, May 11 and 12:00 PM on Sunday, May 12, thieves gained entrance to the business through the ceiling. All in all, the thieves made off with over $15,000 in fish and equipment. Of which, three breeding zebra L046 plecos (Hypancistrus zebra) and one Flagtail fish were among the items stolen.

It's interesting to note that the zebra pleco is banned from export from Brazil is currently threatened in the wild due to construction of the Belo Monte Dam in the Xingu river in Brazil, where the fish is found. Due to this threat, several captive breeding programs are working to captively rear this fish.

(via Herald Sun News)

After reviewing recent research based on the study of habitat-specialist coral reef fishes, Boston University post-doctoral researcher Marian Y. L. Wong and Peter M. Buston, assistant professor of biology, have found that these species have proven invaluable for experimental testing of key concepts in social evolution, noting that studies of these fishes already have yielded insights about the ultimate reasons for female reproductive suppression, group living, and bidirectional sex change.  Based on this impressive track record, the researchers maintain that these fishes should be the focus of future tests of key concepts in evolutionary ecology. Their findings are published in an article titled “Social Systems in Habitat-Specialist Reef Fishes: Key Concepts in Evolutionary Ecology” in the June 2013 issue of the journal BioScience (BioScience 63: 453–463. ISSN 0006-3568, electronic ISSN 1525-3244; www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintinfo.asp. doi:10.1525/bio.2013.63.6.7)

A major focus in evolutionary ecology lies in explaining the evolution and maintenance of social systems. Although most theoretical formulations of social system evolution were initially inspired by studies of birds, mammals, and insects, incorporating a wider taxonomic perspective is important for testing deeply entrenched theory. In their new study, the researchers suggest that habitat-specialist coral reef fishes provide that wider perspective.

“While such coral reef fishes are ecologically similar, they display remarkable variation in mating systems, social organization, and sex allocation strategies,” says Wong. “Our review of recent research clearly shows the amenability of these fishes for experimental testing of key concepts in social evolution.”

The new study highlights recent contributions made by one specific group of coral reef fishes—habitat-specialist reef fishes—to testing the robustness of mating system, cooperative breeding, and sex allocation theories. Habitat-specialist reef fishes are small bodied and well adapted to living within discrete patches of coral, anemones, and sponges. They include such species as the Pomacentridae (damselfish), Gobiidae (goby), Caracanthidae (coral croucher), and Cirrhitidae (hawkfish) families.

Being habitat specialists, these fishes are highly site attached and have limited mobility. They rely on their particular habitat for food, shelter, and breeding sites, and they experience high risks of mortality from predation if they venture outside their immediate habitat. Mating systems are highly variable both among and within these species, including monogamy (one male mates with one female), harem polygyny (one male mates with several females), and polygynandry (multiple males and females mate with each other). These fishes also exhibit great variability in social organization, including pair and group formation, with group members’ being reproductive or non-reproductive depending on the mating system. “This behavioral variability, despite the relative ecological similarity of these species, presents a unique opportunity to test the various hypotheses for the evolution of different social systems,” says Buston.

According to the authors, habitat-specialist reef fishes are a tried and tested group of model organisms for advancing the understanding of the evolution and ecology of social systems in animals; the study of these species already has revealed many things about the evolutionary ecology of mating, social, and sexual systems. Despite their ecological quirkiness, they have been instrumental for testing the generality and robustness of key concepts that are widely applicable to other taxonomic groups. In fact, in some cases, they have been the only species in which experimental tests of key hypotheses have been performed, largely because of the ease with which their habitat and social organization can be manipulated in the lab and in the field. For these reasons, the authors argue that these species should be the focus of future tests of key concepts in evolutionary ecology.

Journal Reference: Marian Y. L. Wong and Peter M. Buston. Social Systems in Habitat-Specialist Reef Fishes: Key Concepts in Evolutionary Ecology. BioScience, June 2013 DOI: 10.1525/bio.2013.63.6.7

[via the Boston University newswire]

Scientists have known for years that these symbiotic microorganisms serve up nitrogen to their coral hosts, but this new study sheds light on the dynamics of the process and reveals that the algae have the ability to store excess nitrogen, a capability that could help corals cope in their chronically low-nitrogen environment.

"It was a great surprise to find the nitrogen-rich crystals inside the algae," says corresponding author Anders Meibom of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. "It all makes perfect sense now. The algae suck up the ammonium and nitrate like a sponge when the concentration of these molecules increases, then store this nitrogen as uric acid crystals for later use."

Like all reef-forming corals, the species they studied, Pocillopora damicornis, is actually a symbiosis of two different organisms: the coral provides protection to a species of photosynthetic algae called dinoflagellates, which, in turn, provide sugars and nitrogen to the coral host. The symbiosis allows the coral to thrive in clear, tropical waters that are naturally nutrient-poor. In many places, however, coral reefs are suffering from an excess of nutrients - pollution from sewage and fertilizers that impacts the symbiotic relationship and the health of coral in unknown ways.

To better understand these exchanges of materials and to determine how an excess of nutrients might affect the balance, the researchers exposed pieces of coral to varying concentrations of isotopically-labeled nitrogen-rich compounds. Using the facilities at the Aquarium Tropicale Porte Dorée in Paris, France, the scientists applied a relatively new analytic technique called nano-scale secondary ion mass-spectrometry (NanoSIMS) to follow the path of the nitrogen. NanoSIMS enabled them to visualize and quantify the uptake, movement, and accumulation of this labeled nitrogen within the coral.

When supplied with nitrogen in the form of ammonium, nitrate or aspartic acid the dinoflagellates responded by rapidly storing the nitrogen as crystals of uric acid within its cells. But the dinoflagellates don't hang onto the nitrogen for long. Starting at about six hours after exposure, the microbes begin translocating nitrogen-rich compounds to the coral host, where the nitrogen is used in specific cellular compartments all over the surface layers of the coral.

This storage and release process helps explain how these corals get through the ups and downs of nitrogen concentrations, says Meibom. "This gives the coral-algae symbiosis a very efficient way to deal with strong fluctuations in nitrogen availability," writes Meibom. "When the nitrogen availability suddenly becomes high, the algae can take-up large amounts of nitrogen on a timescale of a few hours, store it into crystals inside the algae cells and then release this stored nitrogen for metabolic processes and growth when the nitrogen levels become normal again."

To follow up on this work, Meibom says he and his colleagues are now studying how carbon-based nutrients are taken up and distributed in the same coral-algae symbiosis.

In this video, presented by the Sustainable Aquarium Industry Association, we get an in-depth look at why and how fishermen practice dynamite fishing in the Philippines.  We see first-hand how fishermen take empty brandy bottles, fill them with a mix of sand and fertilizer, and then seal it with pieces of old rubber flip-flops and a "firecracker" with a shortened fuse. These firecrackers are not what we typically call a firecracker in the States as they are larger and appear to be either as big or larger than M80's.

Later in the documentary, we see how they are employed and also talk to a fisherman that was a bit too reckless with his bomb and injured three fingers on his hand when one went off too early.

The docuentary was produced by NDR Media GmbH for german TV from 02/17/2013.

A carcass that washed up on a Seattle-area beach this spring provided a reminder that sleek fin whales, nicknamed “greyhounds of the sea,” are vulnerable to collision when they strike fast-moving ships. Knowing their swimming behaviors could help vessels avoid the animals. Understanding where and what they eat could also help support the fin whale’s slowly rebounding populations.

University of Washington oceanographers are addressing such questions using a growing number of seafloor seismometers, devices that record vibrations. A series of three papers published this winter in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America interprets whale calls found in earthquake sensor data, an inexpensive and non-invasive way to monitor the whales. The studies are the first to match whale calls with fine-scale swimming behavior, providing new hints at the animals’ movement and communication patterns.

The research began a decade ago as a project to monitor tremors on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, a seismically active zone more than a mile deep off the Washington coast. That was the first time UW researchers had collected an entire year’s worth of seafloor seismic data.

“Over the winter months we recorded a lot of earthquakes, but we also had an awful lot of fin-whale calls,” said principal investigator William Wilcock, a UW professor of oceanography. At first the fin whale calls, which at 17 to 35 vibrations per second overlap with the seismic data, “were kind of just a nuisance,” he said.

In 2008 Wilcock got funding from the Office of Naval Research to study the previously discarded whale calls.

Dax Soule, a UW doctoral student in oceanography, compared the calls recorded by eight different seismometers. Previous studies have done this for just two or three animals at a time, but the UW group automated the work to analyze more than 300,000 whale calls.

The method is similar to how a smartphone’s GPS measures a person’s location by comparing paths to different satellites. Researchers looked at the fin whale’s call at the eight seismometers to calculate a position. That technique let them follow the animal’s path through the instrument grid and within 10 miles of its boundaries.

Soule created 154 individual fin whale paths and discovered three categories of vocalizing whales that swam south in winter and early spring of 2003. He also found a category of rogue whales that traveled north in the early fall, moving faster than the other groups while emitting a slightly higher-pitched call.

“One idea is that these are juvenile males that don’t have any reason to head south for the breeding season,” Soule said. “We can’t say for sure because so little is known about fin whales. To give you an idea, people don’t even know how or why they make their sound.”

The fin whale’s call is not melodic, but that’s a plus for this approach. The second-long chirp emitted roughly every 25 seconds is consistently loud and at the lower threshold of human hearing, so within range of earthquake monitoring instruments. These loud, repetitive bleeps are ideally suited for computer analysis.

Michelle Weirathmueller, a UW doctoral student in oceanography, used Soule’s triangulations to determine the loudness of the call. She found the fin whale’s call is surprisingly consistent at 190 decibels, which translates to 130 decibels in air – about as loud as a jet engine.

Knowing the consistent amplitude of the fin whale’s song will help Weirathmueller track whales with more widely spaced seismometer networks, in which a call is recorded by only one instrument at a time. Those include the Neptune Canada project, the U.S. cabled observatory component of the Ocean Observatories Initiative, and the huge 70-seismometer Cascadia Initiative array that’s begun to detect tremors off the Pacific Northwest coast.

“We’d like to know where the fin whales are at any given time and how their presence might be linked to food availability, ocean conditions and seafloor geology,” Weirathmueller said. “This is an incredibly rich dataset that can start to pull together the information we need to link the fin whales with their deep-ocean environments.”

(Press Release University of Washington)

The Zoological Society of London attempted to source a suitable breeding Mangarahara female from other public aquariums but have come up empty handed.  They've now turned their attention to private fish collectors in hopes that someone somewhere has a female for the lonely males.

Two of the three known males are over 12 years old, so time is of the essence to stave off extinction. It doesn't bode well that males are notoriously picky and aggressive with their mates.  The last attempt to breed these cichlids in Berlin Aquarium ended up with the male killing the female.  The London Zoo is hoping their two males are more congenial.

Like many freshwater fish, the Mangarahara cichlids were driven to near extinction by human activities (in this case, with the construction of dams in Madagascar cutting off water to their limited natural distribution).  And now they will require human intervention to save them.

If you have or think you have a female, please email The London Zoo at fishappeal@zsl.org.  An entire species is literally at stake.

Those of you that are entranced and intrigued by the strange and wonderful world of deep sea life will enjoy this iOS app, available from iTunes for free. It was developed by the Natural History Museum and is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

According to the app's page on iTunes:

Deep Sea ID is a field guide interface to the World Register of Deep-Sea Species (WoRDSS) that currently stores on your device (for offline access) the taxonomic information for over 20,000 deep-sea species, over 350 high-resolution photographs of deep-sea specimens as well as links to online taxonomic tools, sources and important references. The app is designed for the scientific community but also offers a visual tour of the remarkable biodiversity of deep sea life that is of interest to educators and the general public.

Get it now on iTunes.

Earlier this year, Innovative Marine introduced their new MiniMax line of media reactors.  These true plug-and-play reactors showcased an ingenious media cartridge-style system that made flow adjustment and media replacement the most elegant we've ever seen for a media reactor.  However, while the MiniMax reactors were one of the most inspired media reactors we've seen in a long time, there was one small problem (no pun intended): the MiniMax reactors were originally designed for aquariums with tight space constraints, thus only available in small media capacities suitable for nano aquariums.

That's all changing!  Innovative Marine has scaled up their MiniMax all-in-one media reactors.  The new reactor MiniMax FullSize shares the same design of their smaller predecessors but now can accept up to one liter of media while still maintaining a small 4.8 inch footprint.  The FullSize also features a new laser cut handle to provide improved ergonomic grip that allows for better flow control of the larger media cartridge.

Details

Name: MiniMax FullSize
Item #: 7303
Dimensions: 5.31” x 4.8” x 17.13”
Pump: 211 GPH / 11 Watts
Acrylic Bracket: Included
Media Capacity: 1 Liter
MAP: $199
Availability: May 24th, 2013

The National Aquarium was established in 1873 in Massachusetts, then relocated to Washington DC in 1878.  In 2003, DC's National Aquarium merged operations with the much larger National Aquarium at Baltimore, Maryland.  Much of DC's livestock will be relocated to Baltimore.

The aquariums board of directors is considering moving the aquarium to another location in Washington DC such as the Smithsonian in order continue the long-standing tradition of having a public aquarium in the nation's capital.

National Aquarium, Washington DC's press release is provided below:

The Board of Directors of the National Aquarium, Washington, DC, has announced that, due to necessary renovations in the Department of Commerce building, the facility will be closing on September 30, 2013. The General Services Administration (GSA) requires National Aquarium to vacate its current space in the building by March 2014.

This September 30 closing date allows National Aquarium, Washington, DC, to meet GSA’s March deadline using a timeline that accommodates its main priority: the needs of its animals and staff. The collection of more than 1,500 animals will be transitioned to new homes at either National Aquarium, Baltimore, or at other accredited aquariums.

“Here at the National Aquarium, we value our DC venue’s rich history as the nation’s first public aquarium, and we are committed to maintaining a presence in the capital, where a public aquarium has existed since the late 1800s,” said Tamika Langley Tremaglio, National Aquarium, Washington, DC, Board Chair.

A task force of National Aquarium Board members is exploring opportunities and funding options that would support this goal. The closure will not impact the operation of National Aquarium, Baltimore, one of the nation’s leading aquariums.

Established in 1873, the National Aquarium, Washington, DC, first opened its doors to visitors in 1885 with a collection of 180 species of fish, reptiles and other aquatic animals.