Great star coral (Montastraea cavernosa)

Scientists and conservationists might be barking up the wrong tree when it comes to finding corals which are suited to surviving the global climate crisis. This is according to a recent research paper which was published in the journal Science.

Two researchers, Ann Budd and John Pandolf, came to this conclusion after they closely analyzed the link between evolutionary innovation and geography of the boulder star coral species complex (which is known in the scientific community as Montastrae annularis). The boulder star coral complex is a group of Caribbean reef corals.

They took a look at the shape of various growths of coral, both recent and fossil in order to see what morphology differences existed. The fossils involved dated back to over 850,000 years ago.

The results were that the quickest, and most drastic, changes to the morphology of the fossil coral growth happened at the outer edges, and the least drastic, and slowest, changes happened in the more central parts.

This seems to suggest that the edge of the coral played an integral role in evolutionary innovation, which may just be caused by cross breeding, or any other number of factors.

This is very big in terms of conservation of the coral reefs. The conventional wisdom dictates that we preserve the center of the coral, more so than focus on conserving the outer edges.

However, by focusing our efforts on the center, we may be overlooking the important sources of adaptation during climate changes.

Ann Budd, lead author of the paper, elaborates more on the subject. “…areas ranked highly for species richness, endemism and threats may not represent regions of maximum evolutionary potential.”

The conclusion of the paper is that in order to properly design marine reserves in the future we need to also take the evolutionary processes and the link between the coral and other species into account by looking at the outer edges as well.

We have updated the crocodillian section of the site and it is now possible to find info about most crocodillians in it.

American Alligator
American Crocodile
Black Caiman
Broad Snouted Caiman
Brown Caiman
Chinese Alligator
Cuban Crocodile
Dwarf Crocodile
False Gavial
Freshwater Crocodile
Gavial
Mexican Crocodile
Mugger Crocodile
New Guinea Crocodile
Nile Crocodile
Orinoco Crocodile
Philippine Crocodile
Rio Apaporis Caiman
Saltwater Crocodile
Siamese Crocodile
Slender-snouted Crocodile
Smooth-fronted Caiman
Spectacled Caiman
Yacare Caiman

Crocodile Facts
American Crocodile facts
Nile Crocodile facts
Saltwater Crocodile facts

After a long period of internet problems we are finally back online and news posting should return to normal from now on.

Thanks for being patient during the last two months.

This update might come as a surprise for, I added a bird section. Many fish keepers keep other animals as well and I want them to be able to find information on other animals as well here on AC. Our bird section is still small but will grow over the coming months.

The following bird articles have been published:

Pet Birds
African Grey Parrot
Amazon Parrots
Caiques
Canary
Cockatiel
Cockatoos
Conures
Doves
Finch
Lories & Lorikeets
Macaws
Parakeets
Parrotlets
Parrots
Pidgeons
Pionus Parrots
Rosella
Choosing a pet bird

The following new articles have been posted on the site.

Fish articles:
False Harlequin Rasbora, Lambchop Rasbora, Trigonostigma espei
Fire Rasbora – Rasboroides vaterifloris
Dwarf rasbora – Boraras maculatus
Golden barb, Geli barb – Puntius gelius
Glowlight Rasbora – Trigonostigma hengeli
Harlequin rasbora Trigonostigma heteromorpha
Arulius Barb – Puntius arulius
T-Barb / spanner barb – Puntius laterstriga
Giant barb – Catlocarpio siamensis
Checkered barb – Puntius oligolepis
Blue danio – Danio kerri
Zebra fish – Danio rerio
Ruby Barb– Puntius nigrofasciatus
Kribensis – Pelvicachromis pulcher
Blue Acara – Aequidens pulcher
Uaru– Uaru amphiacanthoides

Profiles:

Brilliant rasbora – Rasbora borapetensis
Striped barb – Puntius johorensis
redbreast acara – Laetacara dorsigera

Shrimp:

Dark green shrimp
Golden Bee Shrimp
Harlequin Shrimp
Malaya Shrimp
Neocaridina heteropoda shrimp
Ninja shrimp
Orange Bee Shrimp
Orange Delight Shrimp
Purple Zebra Shrimp
Red Goldflake Shrimp
Red Tiger Shrimp
Snowball Shrimp
Tiger Shrimp
White Bee Shrimp
Yellow Shrimp

Enjoy

Just a small update to inform you all about new articles new available here on AC

All articles are about different species of marine snails and how to keep them in aquariums.

Astrea Snail – Information on how to keep and care for Astrea Snails

Nassarius vibex – How to cre for the bruissed nassa.

Bumble Bee Snail – Learn more about this stunning little snail.

Cerith Snails – Information on how to keep and care for Cerith snails.

Chestnut Cowrie – A guide to keeping Chestnut cowries.

Collonista Snails – Information on how to keep and care for collonista snails.

Fighting Conch – Learn how to keep and care for fighting conch snails in marine aquariums.

Margarita snails – A guide to keeping Margarita snails.

Mexican Turbo Snail – Information on how to keep and care for Mexican turbo snails.

Stomatella Snails – How to keep and breed stomatella snails.

Tiger Cowrie – Information on how to keep and care for tiger cowries

Today we have the pleasure of bringing you a unique interview with Marc van Roosmalen which illustrates his situation and problems as he sees them. For those of you who aren’t familiar with who Marc van Roosmalen is, what he has done, and his present situation, I recommend reading this short introduction before reading the interview.

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions Marc!

You have discovered a number of different species. Was finding one of them more special than finding the others? Is it still as much fun to find new species as it was when you found your first new species?

Marc G.M. van Roosmalen (MGMvR): Most fun but also most time and energy consuming for me was finding the ‘Land of Dermis’, where the relatives of Dermis occur – the baby black-capped dwarf marmoset that was delivered on my Manaus doorstep April 1996. With decades of experience in keeping all kinds of primates in halfway houses I knew right away that Dermis represented a new species of monkey and, undoubtedly, also a new primate genus. That event instantly took away the scepsis in me as a primatologist that nowadays it would be impossible to find new species of primates hitherto unknown to science. The quest that followed to find the monkey’s distribution somewhere in the huge Rio Madeira Basin had me stumbling into a Conan Doyle type of ‘Lost World’ – the Rio Aripuanã Basin – a hotspot of biodiversity that I soon recognized to be a totally new ecosystem within Amazonia, whose fauna and flora had never before been inventoried by naturalists, animal collectors, botanists and ornithologists alike. It took me a number of boat surveys to find Callibella humilis, a needle in a haystack as big as France. During innumerable surveys of the local rainforest and through interviews with the locals showing pictures of Dermis I happened to identify at least five other hitherto undescribed primates in the area.

Other highly memorable discoveries were those of some large terrestrial mammals whose existence I did not know of until I had close encounters with them while hiking alone through the forest. First spotting of a giant peccary (Pecari maximus) family silently crossing my trail while I was watching a group of Gray sakis in the canopy, or a group of dwarf peccaries (Pecari?) bumping literally into my feet while chasing one another through the undergrowth. And, back in camp, asking the locals what the hell the creature was that I had come upon that day…

Nowadays, under the Lula regime, it is not so much fun anymore to find new species because you run the risk to get caught in the ‘criminal’ act of collecting and transporting living evidence to support the validity of your find. To be able to publish it in a peer reviewed scientific journal you need at least to collect and deposit holotype material in a Brazilian museum. Without the proper collecting permits – a federal “license to kill” you can apply for in Brasilia, but never get granted – you seriously run the risk to be thrown in jail on accusation of what officials in Brazil call “biopiracy”. That is when you – like me – still collect, transport or keep alive any biological sample that could serve as holotype material or for DNA analysis in order to determine the phylogenetic and taxonomic status of your find. This way they make it impossible for Brazilian as well as foreign scientists to carry out biodiversity studies so needed for a sound nature conservation policy.

What do you feel when you finally find a species you have been looking for during a long time?

MGMvR: In the field you really feel yourself catapulted back in time, following the footsteps of the great naturalists such as Alexander von Humboldt, Wallace, Bates, Spruce, Spix & Martius. Little progress has been made in the Brazilian Amazon ever since my natural-history heroes collected and described a large part of the Amazonian flora and fauna. In this euphoria one tends to forget that times have changed. That having the great privilege to pick up the thread these icons left behind some 150-200 years ago is now considered a ‘criminal act against nature’.

Continue reading →

I have updated AC with a brand new saltwater section as a step on the way towards become the most complete aquarium websites on the web. There is still a lot of marine fish Ac don´t have information about and I will add more as I can.

For now you have to be satisfied reading these new articles:

Anglerfish
Anthias
Basses
Batfish
Blennies
Butterflyfish
Cardinalfish
Clown fish
Corals
Damselfish
Files
Goatfish
Gobies
Gorgonians
Grammas
Groupers
Grunts
Hawkfish
Jawfish
Jellyfish
Lionfish
Dragonets
Mantis shrimp
Marine angelfish
Marine Catfish
Moray eels
Nudibranch
Octopus
Pipefish
Pufferfish
Rabbitfish
Rays
Snappers
Scorpionfish
Sea Anemones
Sea horses
Sea Stars
Shark Fish
Shrimps
Snails
Squirellfish
Surgeonfish
Triggerfish
Wrasses
Setting up a marine aquarium /by ILMGB
Cheap marine aquarium (economical and environmnetal….)by ILMGB
Cinnamon Clownfish
Clarkii Clownfish
Maroon Clownfish
Ocellaris Clownfish
Percula Clownfish
Pink Skunk Clownfish
Saddleback Clownfish
Green Chromis
Blue Green Chromis
Blue Devil
Yellowtail Damsel
Fiji Blue Devil
Striped Damsel
Blacktail Damsel
Domino Damsel
Blue Velvet Damsel
Lined Seahorse
Common Seahorse
Long Snout Seahorse
Banded pipefish
Highfin Blenny
Bicolor Blenny
Midas Blenny
Redspotted Rockskipper
Redlip Blenny
Lawnmower Blenny
Green Mandarinfish
Spotted Mandarinfish
Starry Dragonet
Leaf Scorpionfish
Fu Manchu Lionfish
Dwarf Lionfish
Zebra Lionfish
Antennata Lionfish
Radiata Lionfish
Red Volitans Lionfish
Volatins Lionfish
Threadfin Anthias
Bartlett’s Anthias
Bicolor Anthias
Lyertail Anthias
African Flameback Angelfish
Asfur Angelfish
Bicolor Angelfish
Blueface Angelfish
Cherub Angelfish
Coral Beauty
Emperor Angelfish
Flame Angelfish
French Angelfish
Herald’s Angelfish
Koran Angelfish
Lamarck’s Angelfish
Potter’s Angelfish
Queen Angelfish
Regal Angelfish
Rock Beauty Angelfish
Rusty Angelfish
Watanabe’s Angelfish
Harlequin Bass
Chalk Bass
Immaculate Puffer
Saddled Toby
Pajama Cardinalfish
Bangaii Cardinalfish
Copperbanded Butterflyfish
Golden Butterflyfish
Klien’s Butterflyfish
Lined Butterflyfish
Longfin Bannerfish
Raccoon Butterflyfish
Saddleback Butterflyfish
Schooling Bannerfish
Threadfin Butterflyfish
Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish
Bicolor Foxface Rabbitfish
Coral Rabbitfish
Foxface Rabbitfish
Magnificent Rabbitfish
Onespot Foxface Rabbitfish
Virgate Rabbitfish
Oribiculate Batfish
Redfin Batfish
Longfin Batfish
Dash-and-Dot Goatfish
Yellowhead Jawfish
Flame Hawkfish
Longnose Hawkfish
Arc-eye Hawkfish
Crown Squirellfish
Red Coat Squirellfish
Hawaiian Squirellfish
Striped Eel Catfish
Panther Grouper
Peppermint Basslet
Bluelined Snapper
Achilles Surgeonfish
Atlantic Blue Tang
Blue Hippo Tang
Chevron Tang
Clown Surgeonfish
Convict Surgeonfish
Desjardinii Tang
Kole Tang
Mimic Surgeonfish
Naso Tang
Orangeshoulder Surgeonfish
Powder Blue Tang
Powder Brown Tang
Purple Tang
Sailfin Tang
Scopas Tang
Whitecheek Surgeonfish
Yellow Tang
Orangespotted Shrimp Goby
Pinkspotted Shrimp Goby
Randall’s Shrimp Goby
Yellow Clown Goby
Yellow Watchman Goby
Bird Wrasse
Dragon Wrasse
Harliquin Tuskfish
Neon Wrasse
Ornate Wrasse
Queen Coris
Radient Wrasse
Spanish Hogfish
Striated Wrasse
Yellow Coris
Fourline Wrasse
Sixline Wrasse
Eightline Wrasse
Exquisite Fairy Wrasse
Lubbock’s Fairy Wrasse
Scott’s Fairy Wrasse
Solar Fairy Wrasse
Carpenter’s Flasher Wrasse
Dot-and-Dash Flasher Wrasse
Filamented Flasher Wrasse
McCosker’s Flasher Wrasse

Not saltwater but still a new article.

Snail control & copper

I hope you will enjoy our new saltwater section.