The starfishes, brittle stars, and basket stars are truly amazing animals with hundreds of tube feet on each arm that help the animal move and collect and manipulate food. Small brittle stars may come with your live rock as hitchhikers. They are outstanding (some would even say essential) inhabitants of a tank with live rock […]
The lawnmower blenny—sometimes called the jeweled blenny (Salarias fasciatus)—is a tropical, Indo-Pacific species ranging from the Red Sea and East Africa to Samoa. It can be found in shallow water as far north as the Ryukyu Islands and all the way south to the Great Barrier Reef and New Caledonia. This fish grows to about […]
Zoanthids are rightfully beloved by nearly all marine aquarists. They are often bright, uniquely colored and fast-growing. Because they are generally hardy, they make an excellent choice for the beginning aquarist; however, the rarer color patterns tempt even experienced reef aquarists. Despite their popularity, many aquarists are unclear of zoanthids relationship to other marine […]
The Sea Hare is an herbivorous sea slug that, according to the Ancient Greeks, looks something like a rabbit. Sea Hares hail from the Order Anaspidea and the Family Aplysiidae. There are nine genera including the genus Aplysia, which contains the Sea Hares most commonly seen in the hobby. While many aquarists have heard horror […]
The sexy shrimp (Thor amboinensis), so named for the provocative waving motion it makes with its abdomen, is a very small shrimp (to 1 ½ inches) that will readily host in either coral with large polyps like many Euphyllia species (e.g., torch coral) or anemones. Due to their small size, they are excellent animals to […]
