Reef Ramblings

Friday 30th December 2011.

Watch out for the new BBC2 series about the Great Barrier Reef, ‘Nature’s Miracle’, starting at 8pm on Sunday 1^stJanuary 2012.

The three-part series presented by Monty Halls explores the 2000-kilometre length of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, one of the natural wonders of the world and the largest living structure on our planet.

The first film explores the complex structure of the coral reef itself, the wildlife that lives on it, and features underwater photography showing scenes that have never been filmed before.

To find out more about this new series see BBC Great Barrier Reef.

If you go to Great Barrier Reef clips you can see 18 videos connected to the series ranging from just under a minute to a series preview of almost eight minutes in length. Included are some web exclusive videos.

Part of the success of the series was due to a partnership with James Cook University in Cairns. Their scientific research facilities include a giant reef tank where a variety of reef animals are studied.

The facilities here enabled the team to capture specialist close-up shots that would not be possible in the wild. Look out for the sequence capturing the first stages of a coral’s life when a free-swimming coral polyp settles and begins growing its stony skeleton.

Being able to precisely control light and nutrient levels, whilst leaving cameras running for days at a time, enabled series cameraman and marine biologist Richard Fitzpatrick to film time-lapse sequences of corals. A first here is footage showing how corals bleach, expelling their symbiotic partners, the zooxanthellae that give them their colour, a feat that hasn’t been achieved before in a wildlife documentary.

Please tell your friends, family, and colleagues about this new series highlighting the many wonders of the reef environment.

Tim Hayes

Midland Reefs

A recent piece of research delivered as a poster presentation at the annual American Geophysical Union meeting during December 2011 brings into question the formulation of the aquarium foods with which we feed our fish. See LiveScience for the original story that prompted me to write this article.

The poster by Greg Michalski, an assistant professor at Purdue University, highlights a quirk of science that although amusing, may be of concern to aquarists wanting to ensure their fish are fed an appropriate diet.

The poster presentation was a report on research based on chemical analysis of nitrogen isotopes in the food chain. The heavier isotope nitrogen-15 accumulates with each level on the food chain whilst the lighter form, nitrogen-14, tends to be excreted. An animal retains the heavy nitrogen from the animals it eats, while losing some of the lighter nitrogen. With each step up the food chain, the ratio of heavy to light shifts in favour of nitrogen-15. So, a plant would have the lowest levels of heavy nitrogen, and a top predator, say a shark or a tiger, would have the highest. This is a similar mechanism to the accumulation of the toxic element mercury in animals higher up the food chain

Michalski, who uses isotopes to study pollution and nitrogen cycling, had his students test seafood as a training exercise. Not surprisingly, they found that filter-feeding animals, like clams, came up with relatively low nitrogen-15 levels. Fish at the top of the food chain, like tuna and swordfish, had the most. However, as they studied a wider range of subjects they discovered an anomaly when they found some of the highest levels of heavy nitrogen ever recorded in …

 … the common guppy!

Tim Hayes Midland Reefs ©2007-11

The nitrogen enrichment being studied is expressed as the ratio of heavy to light nitrogen in the air. In the guppy, however, they found an increase in heavy nitrogen of 0.149 percent relative to that ratio. By comparison, they analyzed a sample from a thresher shark, a predatory shark, and found it had a 0.143-percent enrichment. Comically this turns the humble guppy into a predator at the very top of the food chain.

The reason for the anomaly turns out to be the aquarium fish food fed to the guppies. Their analyses revealed that fish food is positioned in the middle of the food chain, in the vicinity of salmon, mahi mahi, octopus or cod. Generally fish food comprises the leftovers from commercial fisheries: fish heads, guts and fins, the heavy nitrogen contained in it becomes further concentrated when eaten by the top predator, aquarium fishes, in this case, specifically the common guppy.

Although we don’t know what make of aquarium food was being fed to the guppies in the study it does open up questions about the formulation of fish foods and how appropriate they are for the species that they are being fed to.

In nature guppies are fairly low in the food chain, digestive tracts of wild guppies, Poecilia reticulata contain mainly benthic algae and aquatic insect larvae, a diet far different to the one rich in fish represented by the aquarium food in the above study.

For some time now I’ve been pointing out that the majority of fishes kept by reefkeepers are not fish eaters, rather they have a diet comprised of small zooplankton. Similarly the majority of the popular small fishes in the freshwater hobby are not fish eaters.

When you choose a food for your fishes do some research, examine the manufacturers literature and the content on food labels to ensure that you are feeding your fish an appropriate diet. You may find that you need a variety of foods to accommodate the diets of the different species that you keep.

Tim Hayes

Midland Reefs

©2011

During 2011, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences described 140 new species including 72 arthropods, 31 Sea slugs, 13 fishes, 11 plants, nine sponges, three corals, and one reptile.

Proving that there are still plenty of places to explore and things to discover on Earth, the Academy scientists along their international collaborators made their finds in six continents and three oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian). Their results, published in 33 different scientific papers, add to the record of life on Earth and help advance the Academy’s research into two of the most important scientific questions of our time: “How did life evolve?” and “How will it persist?”

Discovering new species, formally describing them, and determining their evolutionary relationships to other organisms provide the crucial foundation for making informed conservation decisions at a national level. Earlier this year, Academy scientists embarked on the largest expedition in the institution’s recent history, a 42-day journey to the Philippines to survey the shallow water, deep sea, and mountain habitats of Luzon Island. Early estimates indicate that they may have discovered as many as 500 new species. While it takes months and even years to formally describe and publish a new species in a peer-reviewed scientific journal (the reason they are not included in the 2011 total), Academy scientists had enough initial data to provide a formal recommendation to Conservation International and the Philippine government outlining the most important locations for establishing or expanding marine protected areas. Formal species descriptions in the coming years should help the scientists bolster and refine their initial recommendations.

Below are the aquatic highlights among the 140 species described by the Academy this year. For a full list of species, including geographic information, see: www.calacademy.org/newsroom/releases/2011/new_species_list.php.

Four New Sharks

Academy research associate David Ebert and his colleagues described four new species of deep-sea sharks. The African dwarf Saw shark, Pristiophorus nancyae, was collected via a bottom trawl at a depth of 1,600 feet, off the coast of Mozambique. Notable for its elongated blade-like snout, or “rostrum,” which is studded with sharp teeth and used as a weapon, the Saw shark will swim through a school of fish swinging its rostrum back and forth, stunning and injuring prey, then swim back to consume the casualties.

Ebert and his colleagues also described two species of Lantern shark: Etmopterus joungi from a fish market in Taiwan, and Etmopterus sculptus from trawling at depths of 1,500 – 3,000 feet off the coast of southern Africa. Like their name suggests, Lantern sharks emit light on various parts of their body, probably a strategy to camouflage themselves from upward-looking predators and also to interact with others of their own species.

Finally, a new species of angel shark, Squatina caillieti, was described from a single specimen collected in 1,200 feet of water off the Philippine island of Luzon. Angel sharks have flattened bodies and large pectoral fins resembling wings.

A Bounty of Arthropods

There are more species of arthropods – insects, spiders, crustaceans, and other joint-legged creatures – than any other group of animals on Earth, and more are being discovered every day. So it’s no surprise that over half of the new species on this year’s list consists of arthropods: 43 ants, 20 goblin spiders, six barnacles, and three beetles. In addition, Academy scientists took it to the next level by describing six new genera (“genus” being one classification level higher than “species”). These include three new genera of barnacles (Minyaspis, Pycnaspis, and the fossil Archoxynaspis).

Sea slugs

Despite the common name of “Sea slug,” nudibranchs are breathtaking in their beauty and diversity. Every colour of the rainbow is represented among nudibranchs, in a wide variety of patterns, making them a favourite for underwater photographers. These animals use colour as a warning sign — predators learn to associate their vivid colours with their toxic or unpalatable nature, and so they avoid eating them.

More than 3,000 nudibranch species have been discovered and described to date, and scientists estimate that another 3,000 species are yet to be named. Academy Dean of Science Terry Gosliner and his colleagues did their part to increase our knowledge of nudibranch diversity by describing 31 new species this year.

CORALS

SPONGES

FISHES

SEA SLUGS

ARTHROPODS

Adapted from materials provided by the California Academy of Sciences.

Editor’s note:

It’s great to see new marine species being discovered and scientifically described even at a time when the oceans are deteriorating owing to the many anthropogenic (man made) pressures that they are subject to, over fishing, temperature changes, acidification, pollution, etc.

That new species are being discovered when so many known species are being reported as under threat does not obviate the fact that the oceans are deteriorating, rather it is a reflection of how little is still known about the underwater world given the difficulties of exploring this endlessly fascinating environment.

Edited by Tim Hayes, Midland Reefs.

Marine aquarium fish collector Steve Robinson was sentenced to 45 days in prison on Thursday15th December for smuggling dozens of exotic fish from a small island near Mexico. He is facing prison after pleading guilty to smuggling a rare species of fish that can worth up to $10,000 per animal by claiming they were a more common species.

© D Ross Robertson, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Federal prosecutors accused Robinson of collecting 52 Clipperton angelfish in April 2009 off Clipperton Island. The Clipperton angelfish Holacanthus limbaughi is endemic to the area, growing to 25 cms total length, and is listed by the IUCN as Near Threatened (NT). Clipperton Island is an uninhabited atoll southwest of Mexico under French authority where fishing requires permission from the French government.

Federal fish and wildlife investigators found that Robinson then imported the fish into the United States while falsely claiming to authorities that they were a different, more common species.

Robinson pleaded guilty in August and is scheduled to begin serving the sentence January 30. The presiding United States Magistrate also ordered Robinson to pay a $2,000 fine and a one-year period of supervised release.

Tim Hayes,

Midland Reefs

©2011

Over the 14-16th December the European annual quota will be announced in front of the world’s press in Brussels.

The Fish Fight team is placing their Fish Fight Counter as close to the proceedings as possible so that it sits in view in the back of news clips.  They need the number on the counter (i.e. number of people who have signed the Fish Fight petition) to rise as much as possible over that time.

If you’ve not yet signed the petition (see link below), I would urge you to do so. Please pass the link to the petition on to your friends and colleagues, and ask them to sign up too!

After you’ve signed up your name will be displayed on the fish fight counter outside the European Parliament building in Brussels!

www.fishfight.net

 Thursday 15^th December 2011

FISH FIGHT has gone live this morning with the ‘Send a letter to your MEP’ appeal.

At the time of posting nearly 50,000 letters have been sent so far!

It’s currently a key moment in the next stage of the reform process as MEPs debate the details of the new Common Fisheries Policy.  FISH FIGHT would like you all to email your MEP letting them know how strongly you feel about a radical reform of the laws that govern our oceans.

FISH FIGHT has made this really easy to do. All you have to do is follow the 3 step guide at http://www.fishfight.net/meps

• First enter your name and address.
• Then choose which of your MEPs you want to write to.
• Then either write your own message, or use the template provided.

Your E-Mail Could Make All the Difference!

Please circulate this call to action to as many of your friends and colleagues as you can.

Tim Hayes

Midland Reefs

I’ve just received my copy of the January 2012 issue of Aquarium Fish International featuring the first edition of my new regular column, ‘The Mariculturist’. The column looks at all aspects of breeding and propagation, covering fish, cnidarians and mobile invertebrates.

For this issue’s table of contents, see: AFI January 2012

You can read the Editor’s Note for this issue by going here.

Also there is some additional online content connected to my column, ‘Fish and Invertebrates Spawned in Captivity’ disappointingly this is an abbreviated version of my full (and ongoing) list, which you can see in full here: List of Ornamental Marine Fishes Bred in Captivity

If there are any areas of mariculture that you’d like to see covered in the column, please get in touch.

Similarly, if you know of any species of ornamental marine fish or invertebrate not included in my list  that has been spawned in captivity, please let me know by contacting me through Reef Ramblings.  Please include any supporting evidence you have, including photos or a reference from a scientific journal.

Update December 15th 2011

I’m happy to say that the list has now been updated on the AFI website.

Tim

Tim Hayes

Midland Reefs

©2011