Reef Ramblings

January 11th 2013

Harking back to recent coverage of the public aquarium ‘Big Fish Campaign’ in UltraMarine and on Reef Ramblings, here is a good example of the potential problems caused by fish that grow to a size too large for the average aquarium.

Back in late December spear fisherman, Greg Caterino, caught what was initially a mystery species of fish, off North Key Largo, Florida.

Greg Caterino with the humpback grouper that he speared off North Key Largo.
Image: Wayne Grammes / KeysNet.com

This image helps put into perspective the potential size of this species.

On closer examination the 6.8 kilo (15 pound), 0.7 metre (27 inch) long fish was identified as a specimen of Chromileptes altivelis. Common names for this fish include: Humpback Grouper, Panther Grouper, and in Australia the Barramundi Cod.

Juveniles of this species are often found in the UK aquarium trade sold under the name Panther Grouper. As juveniles, at length of around 10 cms, these fish are attractive to inexperienced aquarists owing to their striking colouration of black polka dots on a white background.  Unfortunately they don’t retain their distinctive appearance and, as they grow, so does their appetite with any tank mate that can fit into their mouth becoming a potential meal.

Image: Tim Hayes

Example of a ‘cute’ juvenile Panther Grouper.

Although not directly relevant to the UK because of our cooler climate, in addition to the ‘Big Fish’ issue, there is the secondary issue of invasive species to consider. This is an Indo-Pacific species, almost certainly released into the sea by an aquarist whose tank it had outgrown. According to Lad Akins, Project Director for the Reef Environmental Education Foundation,  “This is not the first time these have been sighted in Florida, there have been five or six reported as far back as the 1980s, but all from different parts of the state.”

With one Indo-Pacific species, the Lionfish, Pterois volitans, well on the way to being established in the region, the fear in this area of the US is of another foreign invader joining it to the detriment of the local marine ecosystem.

Click here to learn more about the the Big Fish Campaign.

Tim Hayes

Reef Ramblings

©2013

There’s a remarkable new finding from the Catlin Seaview Survey. As part of their Deep Reef Survey, a community of hermatypic, zooxanthellate corals have been discovered at a depth of 125 metres, the deepest found so far on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR).

The discovery was made at the Ribbon Reefs off the north of the GBR in an area normally inaccessible owing to its full exposure to big ocean swells. The team were fortunate to encounter unusually calm seas, permitting them to deploy their Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) getting close up coral images and even collecting a specimen from 125 metres.

Image: © Catlin Seaview Survey
Coral specimen retrieved from 125 metres. ROV in background.

Deep water Acropora

Apart from the discovery of reef building corals at such a great depth was the remarkable sighting of an Acropora species at a depth of 73 metres; to date this is the deepest that this genus has been recorded on the GBR.

Deep-water hermatypic corals

Usually when discussing deep-water corals we are talking coldwater corals, ranging down to a depth of 2000 metres with water temperatures as cold as 4˚C, living in complete darkness. Deep-water coral communities are composed of corals lacking zooxanthellae, the symbiotic algae that help provide food for most shallow-water corals through photosynthesis and are generally comprised of the Orders Scleractinia (stony corals) forming hard, ahermatypic reefs; Antipatharia (black corals); and Alcyonacea (soft corals) mostly gorgonians (sea fans). Having no zooxanthellae, deep-water corals are reliant on capturing detritus and plankton for food, hence their distribution is dependent upon areas of strong current. Click here for more about coldwater corals.

The deep-water corals found by the Catlin team are of noteworthy as they are zooxanthellate, tropical hermatypic (reef building) corals found at a far greater depth than is usual for these species. Depending on source, the lower depth limit for zooxanthellate corals is generally considered to be around 30 – 40 metres, with rare occurrences reported as deep as 60 metres. At a depth of 125 metres these newly discovered corals are still well within the photic zone, that is the uppermost layer of water that daylight can penetrate in sufficient amounts to permit photosynthesis, which depending on local conditions, can be as deep as 200 metres. Light at this kind of depth is restricted to the blue end of the spectrum and at 125 metres is only one to two percent of surface irradiation at best.

Image: © Catlin Seaview Survey

So how do these corals survive?

One significant clue to their survival may the full exposure of these corals to big ocean swells; it is probable that these swells are bringing with them sufficient nutrition, while their symbiotic algae are ticking over, perhaps supplying enough energy to support respiration.

Additionally the growth form of the deep-water corals is an adaptation to the low level of available light; they are laminar, forming thin flat plates, with upward facing polyps to harness as much light as possible.

For more information about the Catlin Seaview Survey, see:

Reef Ramblings ‘Catlin Seaview Survey launches on the Great Barrier Reef’

Catlin Seaview Survey website

Tim Hayes

Reef Ramblings

©2013

California Academy of Sciences 2012 new species list

Every year the California Academy of Sciences issues a press release detailing species newly described to science by academy scientists during the past 12 months.  The 2012 list comprises of 137 species new to science including 83 arthropods, 41 fishes, seven plants, four sea slugs, one reptile, and one amphibian; described by more than a dozen Academy scientists along with several dozen international collaborators.

“The ongoing discovery of new species is an important function of systematics-based institutions like the California Academy of Sciences,” said Dr. Terry Gosliner, Dean of Science and Research Collections at the Academy. “During these times, when we are facing the planet’s sixth mass extinction, species may be disappearing before we have a chance to find and describe them. How can we know what to protect, if we don’t know that it exists in the first place?”

Marine Highlights

Two of the marine highlights of the year were:

• A new species of deepwater Catshark from the Galapagos, the Jaguar Catshark, Bythaelurus giddingsi, collected via submersible from depths in the region of 428 –562 metres. The authors chose the common name partly because of its spotted pattern, and partly because it bears a striking resemblance to the fictional “Jaguar Shark” seen cruising the dark depths in the Wes Anderson film, ‘The Life Aquatic’.

Bythaelurus giddingsi – Jaguar Catshark.
Image: California Academy of Sciences

• The publication in June of, ‘Reef Fishes of the East Indies’, a three volume magnum opus, several decades in the making. Its geographic coverage spans the South China Sea, Andaman Sea, and the Coral Triangle—the region between the Philippines, Borneo, and New Guinea that is regarded as a global centre of biodiversity. Co-authored by Academy research associate Mark Erdmann, this three-volume book set provides descriptions and colour photographs of more than 2,500 reef fishes, including 25 new species.

Marine species

I’ve broken down the 41 species of fishes into their family groupings, 17 in all, and included size where possible, in order to make it easier to appreciate these new discoveries from a reef aquarium perspective.

Many of these new species seem to be small, cryptic, or of limited distribution, perhaps being found only at a single location or at a greater depth – all factors in their being previously undescribed – a reflection on the difficulty of fully exploring the underwater world. It’s likely that there are many more similar species awaiting discovery.

Snake Eels

Myrichthys paleracio, a new species of snake-eel from the Philippines.
Image: California Academy of Sciences

Anthias

A beautiful fairy basslet known only from a single deep reef off the southern Indonesian island of Lembata.
Image Credit: Gerald Allen, Conservation International

Coral Breams

A small coral bream with a blazing gold stripe known only from the Komodo islands in Indonesia.
Image Credit: Gerald Allen, Conservation International

Sandperches

A strikingly coloured, red spotted sand perch known only from southern Indonesia (Sumatra to Komodo) and west to the Andaman islands of India; in shallow depths of 2-8m.
Image Credit: Gerald Allen, Conservation International

Sand-divers

A deep reef species (below 60m depth) discovered in Cendrawasih Bay in West Papua; the name refers to the unusually long pelvic fins which this fish uses to rest on the bottom in tripod-like fashion.
Image Credit: Gerald Allen, Conservation International

Clingfishes

Aspasmichthys alorensis – a tiny clingfish known only from the Alor Strait in SE Indonesia – an area renowned for ferocious currents.
Image Credit: Gerald Allen, Conservation International

Lepidichthys akiko – a beautiful candy-striped clingfish known only from deep reefs of Cendrawasih Bay in West Papua.
Image Credit: Gerald Allen, Conservation International

Dragonets

Synchiropus tudorjonesi – Tudor Jones’ dragonet (male and female).
Image Credit: Gerald Allen, Conservation International

Gobies

As might be expected the most numerous of the new species are Gobies:

Acentrogobius cendrawasih – known only from a single silty gully off the Wandammen Peninsula in Cendrawasih Bay; unusual in that it lives at about 30m depth, other members of this genus are usually found above 10m.
Image Credit: Gerald Allen, Conservation International

Eviota atriventris Photo by J. E. Randall.

Eviota fallax
Image Credit: Gerald Allen

Grallenia baliensis – a miniscule sand goby found on the slopes of NE Bali during a 2011 survey.
Image Credit: Gerald Allen, Conservation International

Priolepis nocturna – a highly cryptic and rarely seen reef goby.
Image Credit: Gerald Allen, Conservation International

Tomiyamichthys gomezi – A beautiful shrimp goby that lives commensally with snapping shrimp.
Image Credit: Gerald Allen, Conservation International

Tryssogobius sarah – A delicate fairy goby with iridescent blue eyes known from deep (40-70m) reefs around Raja Ampat.
Image Credit: Gerald Allen, Conservation International

 Dartfishes

Ptereleotris rubristigma – a beautiful blue dart fish named for the prominent red spot on the gill cover; widespread throughout the East Indies region and found on soft bottoms exposed to currents.
Image Credit: Gerald Allen, Conservation International

List of Fishes

TL – Total length: term used by taxonomists to describe the length of a fish from its most forward part, e.g. its snout, to its rearmost part, e.g. the tip of the tail.

SL – Standard length: term used by taxonomists to describe the length of a fish from its most forward part, e.g. its snout, to the base of the tail. This measurement is used because long-preserved fish often lose the tips of the caudal fin rays through breakage after the desiccation effect of alcohol.

List of Sea Slugs

Notobryon thompsoni, a nudibranch found in South Africa.
Image: California Academy of Sciences

Four species of nudibranchs, in two families, were included in this year’s new species list. One species, Melibe coralophilia, is described as being found in association with two species of coral, the Blue Coral, Heliopora coerulea, and Porites species, although the nature of the association is currently unknown.

References

For references, see, ‘CalAcademy 2012 references‘

Adapted from materials provided by the California Academy of Sciences.

From my favourite new resource, Fishes of the East Indies, by Allen GR and Erdmann MV

Additional materials courtesy of FishBase

Tim Hayes

Reef Ramblings

©2012

Check out this amazing photograph of a diver being dwarfed by a vast school of Jacks.

The image was taken by scientist Octavio Aburto in the Cabo Pulmo National Park, a marine reserve in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez, north of Cabo San Lucas on the tip of Baja California. Cabo Pulmo is a conservation success story that demonstrates what a no-take marine park can achieve.

The photo shows the schooling Jacks exhibiting courtship behaviour has been submitted to the National Geographic Photo Contest 2012 and was featured on Mission Blue, a website created to raise awareness of ocean issues, headed up by oceanographer Sylvia Earle.

Mission Blue

Mission Blue is a global initiative formed in response to Sylvia Earle’s 2009 TED Prize wish where Dr. Earle urged people “to use all means at your disposal – films, expeditions, the web, new submarines – to create a campaign to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas; Hope Spots large enough to save and restore the blue heart of the planet.”

Decades of over fishing, pollution, climate change, acidification and other anthopogenic pressures threaten the health of the ocean and, in turn, the future of humankind. Presently, less than 1 percent of the ocean is fully protected nationally and internationally.

Mission Blue, a product of the non-profit Sylvia Earle Alliance (SEAlliance) and TED, has nearly fifty partners, organisations from around the world, dedicated to ocean conservation, research, exploration, communication, and more. Goals include increasing marine protected areas by 20 percent by 2020, fishery reform, pollution reduction, and to gain support for the ocean through educating the general public about the threats it faces.

Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park

In 2011 a study by the Scripps Institute of Oceanography described Cabo Pulmo as the “most robust marine reserve in the world”, with an unparalleled 463 percent increase in fish biomass observed since its creation as a no-take marine park

In the 1990s the coral reefs of Cabo Pulmo were despoiled and the ecosystem depleted after decades of destructive over fishing.  When the locals realised what had caused the damage they petitioned the government to make the area a national park, and in 1995 a 17,560-acre strip of marine and coastal habitat was established as a Marine Protected Area (MPA). Fishing was banned within the park and the local communities took stewardship of the marine area, shifting their economy away from destructive fishing practices.

In 2005, UNESCO named Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park a World Heritage Site and it became a Ramsar Wetlands Site of International Importance in 2008.

To learn more about Cabo Pulmo see. ‘Photo of the Day: Rush Hour on the Reef’

Tim Hayes

Reef Ramblings

20 December 2012

The International trade in live corals may help preserve wild  corals and coral reefs.

In the wake of the recent proposal by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to list 66 species of coral under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Sea Shepherd adding the elimination of the aquarium hobby to its aims, it is heartening to see a study published this week showing that the reef aquarium trade may be having a positive influence on coral reefs.

The study, ‘Long-term trends of coral imports into the United States indicate future opportunities for ecosystem and societal benefits’ by Rhyne, Tlusty, and Kaufman, was published in the December issue of the journal Conservation Letters. The team of researchers from Roger Williams University, Boston University, Conservation International, and the New England Aquarium, suggest that the trade in live corals may help to preserve wild corals and coral reef ecosystems.

Whereas trade in corals was once primarily a trade of dried skeletons as curios, it is now concentrated on supplying live corals for the reef aquarium hobby in a trade that is continually evolving, with the introduction of species new to the hobby.

The authors analysed 21 years of US import data, finding that the coral trade had increased over 8% per year between 1990 until the mid-2000s, and has since reduced by 9% annually. The timing of the peak and decline varies between species, and is a result of the rising popularity of the reef aquarium hobby, global financial issues, and an increase in domestic aquaculture production, with the decrease mostly owing to the current economic climate.

The live coral trade is viewed by some critics as a threat to the high biodiversity ecosystems that make up the coral reefs, however, supplying the aquarium trade with locally cultivated corals offers opportunities for reef conservation, provides sustainable economic benefits to coastal communities, along with an incentive to protect the reefs from which the mother colonies are obtained.

Recent changes in the trade of live corals for the reef aquarium hobby are resulting in new opportunities for conservation. “The trade has moved from a wild harvest to mariculture production, a change sparked by long-term efforts to produce a sustainable income to small island countries such as the Solomon Islands and also by the government of Indonesia,” says Andrew Rhyne, lead-author and Roger Williams University assistant professor of marine biology and research scientist at the New England Aquarium. This shift from a wild fishery to a mariculture product poses new opportunities and challenges for conservationists.

The rapid evolution of the trade with new species waxing and waning in value makes effective management difficult. “New species in the live coral trade initially command high prices, but as they become common the price drops with feedback effects to the trade,” said Les Kaufman, Boston University professor of biology and research fellow at Conservation International.

“The live coral trade offers opportunities for coral reef ecosystem conservation and sustainable economic benefits to coastal communities,” says Rhyne. Michael Tlusty of the New England Aquarium, adding that “the realization of these externalities will require effective data tracking.”

Coral reefs are subject to numerous anthropogenic threats including the global threat of warming oceans that are becoming more acidic, and local threats such as improper land use resulting in increased nutrient loading, and over-fishing, which can trigger an ecological cascade resulting in blooms of seaweed that inhibit coral growth.

Trade can be a strong incentive for conservation, but this emerging local conservation tool may be at risk from well-intended restrictions to trade such as ESA listing, and similar prohibitions, intended to protect corals and coral reefs. Restrictions such as these may eliminate the benefits of the trade revealed by the study. These benefits include putting a value on intact coral reefs, and providing a greatly needed income for many in the island nations where hundreds of millions of people rely on the reef for subsistence. A more selective regulatory approach that allows local efforts to sensibly manage reef resources may be preferable.

Editorial comment

It is refreshing to see a study that emphasises the value of the reef aquarium hobby to those living in supply countries who rely on the reefs for their meagre livelihood. Putting greater value on the reefs locally would, hopefully, bring about a reduction in destructive fishing methods such as dynamite fishing and the use of cyanide

In recognising the value of the trade in corals as a positive tool for reef conservation it would seem appropriate if some way could be found for these mostly poor, subsistence fisherman to gain greater benefits from the aquarium trade, acknowledging their role in managing the reef environment.

As an aside, it’s interesting to see that the decline in trade varies species to species and the comments regarding new species, suggesting that species popularity may be subject to fashion and whim rather than an desire to recreate a realistic portrayal of the wild reef in the home aquarium.

Tim Hayes

Reef Ramblings

©2012

The recent appointment of Robert Wintner to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s Board of Directors heralds a new threat to the reef aquarium industry and hobby.

Wintner, also known as ‘Snorkel Bob’, has been an outspoken opponent of the collection of fishes for the aquarium trade in Hawaii, campaigning for an outright ban on the collection and exportation of Hawaiian reef fishes. His description of the reef aquarium hobby is full of negative hyperbole and questionable facts, painting an over-the-top picture of the hobby as being tremendously destructive of reef life.

With his appointment to the board of Sea Shepherd he is extending his opposition to the reef aquarium trade to one of worldwide elimination.

Sea Shepherd

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, initially named “Earth Force Society”, was formed in 1977, after its founder, Paul Watson, was expelled from the board of Greenpeace over disagreements about his direct action activism.

Over the years Sea Shepherd has engaged in various campaigns opposing Drift-netting, Seal hunting, Whaling, Shark-finning, and Dolphin hunting, these have often included direct action which has led to some critics describing their actions as piracy or terrorism.

For more about the organisation see: http://www.seashepherd.org/

See also the Wikepedia entry for Sea Shepherd, which details its history along with a record of the organisation’s various campaigns.

Sea Shepherd’s Position on the Aquarium Trade

Since his appointment Wintner has issued a statement on Sea Shepherd’s position on the aquarium trade, entitled, “Wildlife Species are a Public Trust, Not Disposable Trinkets”

“The aquarium trade serves a dark hobby, confining coral reef wildlife and destroying reefs around the world. Stripping reefs for an amusement industry is theoretically no different than capturing cetaceans for commercial shows. 98% of aquarium fish are wild caught. Many people may not reflect on the colorful fish in glass tanks used as furnishings for offices, bistros, waiting rooms, or homes—and some people may assume those fish are bred in captivity. The fact is that 2% of those fish are captive-bred and 98% are taken from the wild. This devastating practice results in severe mortality rates from the point of capture through handling, shipping, and acclimation. Coral damage is well documented and often witnessed with viewers observing anchors, chains, and nets in the coral and collectors breaking coral in pursuit of a few more bucks.

The aquarium trade is covered in verbiage, but trafficking in reef wildlife for the pet trade is not sustainable or “captive-bred whenever possible.” 40 million reef fish and invertebrates supply 1.5 million aquariums around the world, annually. Wildlife species are a public trust, not disposable trinkets. Marine reef systems are intricately balanced, with each species performing a role in reef maintenance and balance. Multiband Butterflyfish do not leave their reef by choice. Once stripped of Multiband Butterflies, the species is lost to that reef indefinitely. The Hawaiian cleaner wrasse is a charismatic, vital species endemic to Hawaii. They set up cleaning stations where many species gather for grooming in a social setting. Hawaiian cleaner wrasses die in thirty days of captivity without 30-40 other fish to clean, yet they ship out daily for retail sale. Many reefs in Hawaii are now vulnerable to parasite loading. Yellow tangs are herbivores, grazing on algae dawn to dusk to prevent reef suffocation, yet they ship out by the millions to enhance aquarium trade profits. Hawaii’s Director of Natural Resources should not be an aquarium collector. Nor should reef species be sacrificed to support any amusement industry, including sales of tanks, stands, lights, tickets, or decorative trinkets. Under pressure worldwide from acidification, climate change, and associated events—like crown of thorns starfish invasions triggered by warmer water—coral reef systems must maintain optimal immune systems with a full balance of species.The staggering death rate of captive reef wildlife occurs mostly in the 30-day span between capture and chemical error in a home aquarium. Many of these species live for decades in the wild, providing reef function and reef balance.

Hawaii is the third largest supplier of reef fish in the U.S. aquarium trade, accounting for empty reefs and vanishing reef species. Florida takes millions of reef individuals annually, even as society scapegoats the invasive lionfish, a voracious predator introduced by the aquarium trade to east coast and Caribbean reefs. Lionfish did not reach the Atlantic on their own.

Aquarium trade trafficking leaves reefs unbalanced, degraded, and depleted. No factor in reef decline can absolve any other factor- acidification, runoff, climate change, or any other negative impact on reef health cannot justify aquarium extraction. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society seeks to stop global trafficking in live fish for hobby or display markets.”

What should the reef aquarium hobby do in response?

The reef aquarium hobby and industry needs to demonstrate that they are not wantonly destroying reef animals. Fishes and corals can, and do, live out their natural lifespan, in reef aquaria, free of the danger of predation. In the case of corals this can be a lifespan stretching into decades during which time many additional colonies may be created through asexual reproduction, which can in turn, be distributed back into the trade, reducing the quantities harvested from the wild.

The aquarium industry is an important source of income for some of the least well off peoples in the world who live in the supply countries. Increasingly corals are being maricultured for the trade in the supply countries, reducing the impact on the wild.

Indeed, as I try and point out whenever I can, the reef aquarium hobby has an important role in educating people about the dangers of climate change. Most people are never going to visit a tropical reef; by bringing a small slice of the reef into the home we can show non hobbyists the marvellous animals that we are in danger of losing to higher water temperature and acidification, helping to bring awareness of the realities of mankind’s affect on the planet

The aquarium hobby is not perfect but neither is it anywhere near as dark as Sea Shepherd would like to make out, if aquarium losses where anywhere near as high as suggested the hobby would have shut down long ago.  Doubtless we can improve the lives of the fishes, coral, and other invertebrates that are central to the hobby and prevent any unnecessary losses through education.

Organisations such as SAIA, the Sustainable Aquarium Industry Association, exist to help educate both the hobby and the trade by offering information on ‘Best Practises’ to ensure high standards of husbandry.

Do your bit for the hobby, show off your reef aquarium to as many non-hobbyists as possible, research potential new acquisitions before purchase, learn as much as possible about the reef animals that you keep to ensure their long-term survival, and support SAIA in its efforts to educate and inform.

Additional references:

Wintner’s statement on Sea Shepherd’s position on the aquarium trade.

Sea Shepard board of directors.

Tim Hayes

Reef Ramblings

©2012

US Proposes Listing 66 Stony Coral Species as Endangered

In response to a 2009 petition from the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) to list 83 coral species as threatened, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is proposing Endangered Species Act (ESA) listings for 66 stony coral species, 59 from the Pacific and seven from the Caribbean.

Indo-Pacific

In the Pacific seven coral species are listed as endangered:

A further 52 species are listed as threatened, including a number of popular reef aquarium corals:

Caribbean/Atlantic/Gulf

In the Caribbean/Atlantic/Gulf region, five species are listed as endangered and two as threatened, with two species already listed being reclassified from threatened to endangered.

All of the species proposed for listing are already protected under CITES – the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

What does this mean for the hobby?

Being listed as an endangered species prohibits the collection of the species along with the import, export, or any commercial activities dealing in the species. Prohibition is not automatic for species listed as threatened, but can be applied to them as well.

Effectively this will remove all of the species listed under the ESA from the US reef aquarium hobby except for existing captive stock.

It is unclear whether the prohibition would apply to the trade in frags of these species taken from existing captive stock. I would certainly hope not.

Does this ban affect the UK hobby?

The prohibition applies to the USA and its territories not to areas outside of US control so any ban may not directly affect the UK/EU hobby and trade. Indeed, there is the possibility of increased availability of some of these species given the loss of the US as a purchaser.

However, legislation such as this, should it go ahead, may increase the chances of other nations restricting the collection and sale of corals for the reef aquarium hobby.

What happens next?

There will be a 90-day public comment period during which NOAA will hold 18 public meetings on the proposed listing before making a final decision by December 2013.

To find out more about the proposed listing, see the NOAA website.

Further articles in connection with the Centre for Biological Diversity:

Possible ban on collecting clownfishes.

Center for Biological Diversity Seeks Endangered Species Act Protection for the Dwarf Seahorse.

The Beginning of the End for Stony Corals in the Reef Aquarium Hobby.

Tim Hayes

Reef Ramblings

©2012

14^th October 2012

The Seahorse Trust has managed to achieve a ban on the sale of seahorses on eBay by working with the multinational online shopping website.

eBay has prohibited the sale of seahorses on all of its EU sites and restricted the US to domestic sales only (although the Seahorse Trust is lobbying its US members with the aim of getting greater regulation there too.)

The Seahorse Trust, based near Honiton, Devon, was established in 1999 as an organisation to preserve and conserve the marine environment using seahorses as its flagship species. It is an eBay registered charity and receives donations via the online retailer.

Photo Courtesy of the Seahorse Trust

Neil Garrick-Maidment, director of the Seahorse Trust, said he had been alerted by supporters to the fact that dozens of eBay sellers were offering seahorses and seahorse curios. “All seahorses are legally protected and much of the eBay trafficking was illegal under EU and other international regulations. The sellers were based all round the world and were dealing in everything from living seahorses to seahorses entombed in paperweights and hideous baskets full of dried seahorses.” he said.

Mr Garrick-Maidment said the quantities were enough to concern him as the numbers of animals involved must have been in the region of half-a-million per annum.

Mike Carson of eBay said, “We are aligning our enforcement to reflect the regulations in the EU and US. We are therefore prohibiting the sales of real seahorses on our EU sites and only allowing the sale of these items on the US site with domestic shipping.”

Go to the Seahorse Trust to find out more about its conservation work.

Tim Hayes

Reef Ramblings

©2012

A new species of scleractinian or stony coral in the genus Leptoseris  has been described.

Dr. Bert W. Hoeksema of Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands, has published the description of a new species of Leptoseris that lives on the ceilings of caves in Indo-Pacific coral reefs. Unlike other members of the genus the new species, Leptoseris troglodyta, is azooxanthellate, having no symbiotic photosynthetic algae, and has a smaller size of polyp.

The genus Leptoseris is a member of the family Agariciidae. Up until now all the corals in this genus, although preferring lower light conditions, have proven to be zooxanthellate. Generally they are found on lower reef slopes, walls, or overhangs, exhibiting a wide range of forms such as encrusting, leafy, or vase-like with the morphology dependent on local environmental conditions.

Although Leptoseris species can occur deeper than 40 metres the new species has not so far been found deeper than 35 metres.

SeaLife Base lists 17 species under Leptoseris, other sources suggest 15 species.

The species description is published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Tim Hayes

Reef Ramblings

©2012

In July of this year the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced it was ceasing funding for the Aquarius Reef Base, the world’s only undersea research station.

Aquarius Reef Base is located in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, three and half miles offshore, at a depth of 60 feet, next to spectacular coral reefs.

As an undersea base it allows scientists to live underwater for extended periods and, using saturation diving, it enables them to carry out dives of far longer duration than using conventional SCUBA.

Click here to learn more about the history of Aquarius Reef Base.

It seems insane to discontinue funding for this unique facility at a time when the oceans are under threat from so many directions, climate change in the form of rising sea temperatures and acidification from increasing levels of CO2, pollution, over-fishing, etc., particularly at a time when the science generated by this undersea research station could be of the greatest importance in understanding what is happening to the seas

Cartoonist Jim Toomey, author of the cartoon strip, ‘Sherman’s Lagoon’ has dedicated ten daily episodes of his entertaining creation, running from the 8th September to the 22^nd of September, in support of continued funding for Aquarius, asking his readers to a sign a petition backing the future of the research station.

In this special series of the strip Sherman the Shark visits Aquarius Reef Base in Florida, goes to Washington DC to lobby in support of it, and talks with Sylvia Earle, ocean scientist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence.

Click here to follow Sherman the Shark’s adventures in support of Aquarius.

Please join me (I’m there at #1,166) in showing your support for the continued existence of Aquarius Reef Base by signing the One World One Ocean, ‘Save Our Ocean Through Exploration’ petition.

Additional Support – the Aquarius Foundation

The Aquarius Foundation was set up in 2012 as a non-profit organization to support the continued operation of the Aquarius Habitat in response to the planned termination of federal funding for the Aquarius Reef Base program, with the aim of ensuring the future of this important scientific resource.

For more see, the Aquarius Foundation.

Tim Hayes

Reef Ramblings

©2012