Back in 1988, a rare freshwater carp was discovered in an abandoned uranium mine in Australia. 20 years later, this fish has become the focus of a new breeding program, Seriouslyfish reports. The rare Australian fish is called Barraway’s carp gudgeon and it was first found in the Sleisbeck mine pit which is located in the Kakadu National Park in Australia’s Northern Territory.

Ornamental fish breeders are now trying to spawn this fish in captivity, hoping it will turn into an appreciated aquarium fish in Australia as well as in other parts of the world. According to Dr Helen Larson curator of fishes at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, aquarists could help protect the species since captive bred specimens can serve as a reservoir if anything happens to the native habitat of a fish. (Dr Helen Larson is the scientist responsible for describing the Barraway’s carp gudgeon and giving it a scientific name.)

Barraway’s carp gudgeon (Hypseleotris barrawayi) is an egg-laying species that produce really small larvae and these larvae need to be subjected to a certain type of movement to trigger feeding. It has been successfully bred in aquaria, but up until now there have been no coordinated efforts to breed the fish for the aquarium market. The aim of the newly launched breeding program is not only to help preserve the species and introduce a new fish to the aquarium hobby; the project also hopes to provide native communities in the region with a source of income.

If you want to find out more, go to Seriouslyfish. http://www.seriouslyfish.com/news.php?id=21

Connect to a piece of seaweed, were some fish eggs that are laid in Florida and the Caribbean catch a ride in the Gulf Stream to the coast line of Rhode Island. When they hatch they stand little to no chance to surviving as soon as the water cools down starting in th Fall. But a group of divers found them on an annual basis. For apporxmatley 25 years the New England Aquarium Dive Club has been doing this. In the Fall, about 200 divers were sent out to rescue as many juvenile fish as possible. Each year the fish that were rescued are donated to different aquariums and fish keepers.

With 70 people last year, the group caught their first lionfish. Usually the gruoup will catch 30 to 40 different fish. Butterflyfish are usually the most common kind found. This year the club was held in the conjunction. With there being warmer water, children and snorklers got involved as well. Al Bozza, the New England Aquarium Dive Club director, described this year’s rescue as a family event, and pointed to the education opportunity for children.

To read more about this get ahold of the Aquarium Fish International Janurary Issue.

A new species of Tetra has been found in the drainage from the Portuguese River in Venezuela. The scientific name Hyphessobrycon otrynus. Ortynus is Greek for “spur,” which describes, the large bone spur-like hooks that curve from each side of the anal fin on the adult males of the species. Further information on this new species is lacking, but will be provided as research is gathered.

For a free excerpt from the Zootaxa 1747: 61-68 (April 2008) by RICARDO C. BENINE & GUILHERME A. M. LOPES (Brazil) That describes a little aboutH. Ortynus visit:  http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2008/f/z01747p068f.pdf

Just 50 years ago, the Thames River was declared biologically dead. High amounts of pollution from industrialization and mass urbanisation, had literally killed the river. Now, after nearly 2 decades of conservation efforts, the Thames River is slowly making a come back; with over 120 species of fish now calling the Thames River their new home. One new comer stands out from the rest, the short-snouted seahorse. Scientifically defined as the Hippocampus hippocampus, the short-snouted seahorse was first discovered in the Thames back in 2006. However, the Zoological Society of London kept this rare finding under wraps, awaiting legislation’s decision to put the species under the protection of the Wildlife and Conservation Act of 1981.

So what makes this little seahorse so special? The short-snouted seahorse has previously only been found in deep waters around specified locations, and off the coast of France, Spain, and in the Mediterranean. The presence of these seahorse in the Thames River is a sign that the water quality is greatly improving, and that the Thames River will indeed make a come back as a flourishing and diverse community of underwater inhabitants.

For more information and the complete article on the Thames River Seahorse Findings; and to sneek a peak at this fabulous little finding visit:

 http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=1659

According to an article in Underwatertimes.com, a strange fish found off the Indonesian coast might represent a family of vertebrate unknown to science. The fish was sighted off the Indonesian Ambon Island and is a type of anglerfish. Finding a new vertebrate family in the ocean is really special, because during the last half century no more than five new families of fishes have been scientifically described. The unusual anglerfish was found and photographed on Jan 28 2008 by Buck and Fitrie Randolph and their dive guide Toby Fadirsyair. Since then, a few more specimens have been sighted in the same waters.

One of the reasons why the fish has managed to remain undetected until now might be its habit of crawling into crevices rather than parading itself in front of divers. The fish is tan to peach coloured and decorated with an intricate zebra pattern. The fish has rippling folds of skin which makes the fins hard to distinguish from the main body. Unlike most other anglerfishes known to man, this new found creature has no lure on its head and must therefore employ a different tactic in order to get its lunch. It will squeeze itself into narrow cracks in coral reefs and search for food inside. Before anyone can know for sure if this fish really represents an entirely new family of vertebrate, DNA testing must be carried out and a specimen must be more closely examined.

If you want to learn more about this intriguing fish, read the full article at Underwatertimes.com http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=64951030827

You can also visit Buck and Fitrie Randolph’s webpage where they have posted images of their discovery: http://www.divingmaluku.com/new-frogfish.html

The Black Sea Bass is a popular fish among sport fishers and sushi lovers alike, but during recent decades the landings have decrease along the United States Atlantic coast. This has caused the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a governmental agency responsible for supervising National Marine Sanctuaries, to launch two separate culture trials focused on Black Sea Bass farming in aquacultures. So far, the results have been promising, according to an article published by Physorg.com.

Fishery biologists at the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service lab in Milford, Connecticut, have been able to show that Black Sea Bass can be spawned in captivity and grown from larvae to adults in a so called recirculation aquaculture system (RAS). The Black Sea Bass is a hermaphrodite. It starts out as a female and will then turn into a male when it is roughly 2-5 years old.

The geographical range of the Black Sea Bass stretches from Cape Cod to Florida where it inhabits shallow environments along the shore during the summer season. It seems to prefer rocky bottoms and is often found near reefs and man-made structures such as piers and wrecks. Each fall, the adult fish head offshore and stay in deep waters until spring.

If you want to find out more about the Black Sea Bass and how it can be grown in aquacultures, read the full article at Physorg.com.

http://www.physorg.com/news124377274.html

According to Wildlife Extra, 12 different specimens of the endangered Giant freshwater stingray were caught in over the course of just 3-4 months last year. The findings where made in both the Ban Pakong and the Maeklong Rivers, and one of the specimens was a young stingray measuring no more than 12 cm (4.7 inches). This might be a sign that the Giant freshwater stringray is somehow managing to combat the dangerous pollutions that are contaminating its habitat.

The specimen that received most attention was of course the enormous stingray caught by Tom Parker from Coventry whilst on a guided fishing tour to the Ban Pakong River. After being measured and photographed, the rare fish was fortunately released back into the wild. The Giant freshwater stingray had a wingspan of 2.4 meters (7.9 feet) and weighing it turned out to be impossible for the fishing party.

A research project has now been launched by Dr Terry Bertozi of the Evolutionary Biology Unit of the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, Australia and the fishing company FishSiam in order to find out more about the elusive Giant freshwater stingray.

You can learn more reading the full article at Wildlife Extra: http://www.wildlifeextra.com/giant-stingray930.html

Stingrays have flat bodies that make it possible for them to stay hidden in under layers of sand at the bottom until an unsuspecting animal ventures close enough to become lunch. Some stingrays grow really huge, as the one in the article, but others can be kept in normal hobby aquariums. It is very important to provide them with a suitable substrate in the aquarium to allow them to carry out their natural habits. You can learn more about a few species of stingray that can be kept in aquariums here: http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/predatory/sting.php

A video about the problem Asian carp causes.

part 1

part2

Lungfish (not the fish in the story) Copyright www.jjphoto.dk

Well, it is not really his birthday since no one knows exactly when he was born, but as of 2008, Granddad has lived at Chicago’s John G. Shedd Aquarium for exactly 75 years. Granddad is an Australian lungfish and the longest-living fish in any aquarium in the world, according to the Daily Herald. Travelling by steamship and train, he arrived to Chicago from Sidney in 1933 to attend the Chicago World’s Fair. At that time, he was already fully mature and scientists estimated that he was at least 5 years old. Nobody knows how old an Australian lungfish can become, especially not when well cared for in captivity. Today, Granddad is 4 feet (over 120 cm) long and weighs 25 pounds (over 11 kg). He lives in a spacious 6000 gallon (22700 L) aquarium together with four other members of his own species, some smaller fish and a few turtles.

According to George Parsons, director of fishes at the Shedd Aquarium, Granddad’s favourite food is actually something he would hardly encounter in his native environment in Australia – raw sweet potatoes! Granddad is also served romaine lettuce heads and a variety of different seafood and fish to stay healthy and happy.

You can read more about Granddad in the Daily Herald: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=153970

Just like all the other lungfishes, Granddad is equipped with both gills and a primitive type of lungs. This means that he can breathe oxygen directly from the air above the surface. This adaptation makes it possible for lungfish to survive in oxygen depleted waters. You can read more about lungfish here: http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/predatory/lungfish.php

To the Greek, the Amazons where a mythical ancient nation consisting of females only. According to BBC News, scientists from the University of Edinburgh now believe that the Amazon Mollies – who also live in this type of all-female societies – might occasionally grab some DNA from males of other species to avoid the problems linked to cloning. Just like the ancient Amazons who, according to the Greek, visited a nearby tribe to engage in sexual activity with men once a year, the Amazon Mollies does interact with males – but only males from other species and only to trigger cloning. According to the researchers, the Amazon Molly has survived for 70,000 years without engaging in normal sexual reproduction.

Interestingly enough, the Amazon Mollies interact with males of other species and there are no male Amazon Mollies to be found. This interaction with male fish seems to be required to trigger spawning in the females. According to the scientists at Edinburgh University, the females might also occasionally use some DNA from the males just to refresh their gene pool a bit and avoid the typical problems linked to cloning.

The Amazon Molly does not live in the Amazon region of South America; this species is instead found in north-eastern Mexico and south-eastern Texas, U.S. where they typically interact with males belonging to the species Poecilia latipinna, Poecilia latipunctata, Poecilia mexicana and Poecilia sphenops.

You can read more about the Amazon Mollies and their mesmerizing reproductive methods at BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7360770.stm

The Edinburgh-led study was carried out in collaboration with Dr Dunja Lamatsch at the University of Wuerzburg, now at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The research is published in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.