Captive Aquatics: An Aquarium and Ecology Blogtag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-18468072013-02-21T07:51:58-06:00A freshwater, saltwater, reef aquarium and aquatic ecology blog with beginner and advanced articles, led reef aquarium lighting info, aquarium product reviews, and more!TypePadPhotos from a Great Barrier Reef Islandtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c017d41325554970c2013-02-21T07:51:58-06:002013-02-21T08:02:21-06:00Being a researcher and living near the Great Barrier Reef has it's perks! We took a day trip to a small nearby island and snapped a few photos with a point-and-shoot (they're not as good as Haille's excellent photos from Florida, but oh well!). There was a surprising amount of life only a few dozen meters offshore (or even closer, the first picture shows zooanthids growing on a boulder adjacent to shore!), and we thought we'd share: Diving or even snorkeling on a reef can't be described, it must be experienced. If you've never done it, you need to - it never gets old! Related articles Video of an LED-lit Estuary Biotope Nano AquariumCaptive AquaticsVideo of an LED-lit Estuary Biotope Nano Aquariumtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c017ee6b547dd970d2012-12-28T01:50:42-06:002012-12-28T01:54:18-06:00Here's a video featuring a biotope we've set up featuring only species we collected by hand from a local estuary, some endemic to the area (click the video to view in HD). We've also seen juvenile reef species such as the achilles tang and racoon butterflyfish, protected by turbidity and mangrove roots. The biotope features a mud bottom with planted with a few mangroves of various species. The system receives weekly water changes with raw natural seawater, and is fed with the results of plankton tows. While not very large (35 liters, ~7 gallons), it sure is fascinating. The tunicate colonies are especially neat, and have many small tunicates, sponges, and tubeworms encrusting over a single large tunicate! Estuary environments are very important both as a 'nursery' for juvenile fish, but also as a natural 'filter' for runoff received from dry land. The importance of these ecosystems cannot be overstated! Species list: - 3x juvenile Tetractenos spp. (likely hamiltoni) pufferfish - 1x anglerfish of unknown species - various crabs, sponges, tunicates, tubeworms, and snails - various macro algae and mangrove species The system is lit with natural sunlight assisted by an LED fixture (the fixture is not currently available stateside...Captive AquaticsPhotos: Singer Island Dive & Artificial Reeftag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c017c31b83778970b2012-09-07T20:07:19-05:002012-09-09T01:17:36-05:00Well, this is my first post as me, although you've probably seen my pictures posted here. My name is Hallie Carter and I'm an environmental ecologist, photographer and dive master currently living in FL! I hope to provide interesting pictures of marine life to compliment those posted by my friends who are living in the southern hemisphere! I had a a great bridge dive today off the coast of Singer Island, FL! The visibility wasn’t great at first, but once we hit slack tide it improved immensely. We checked out the new artificial reef which was very popular to a lot of schooling fish. We also found a juvenile jack-knife fish, batfish, and even an orange seahorse. Notice the difference in biodiversity compared to the previously posted great barrier reef photos where Mike and Merritt are. No two reefs are the same...anyway, on to the pictures!Captive AquaticsHawksbill Sea Turtle Photographedtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c01774484a227970d2012-09-04T19:39:41-05:002012-09-09T01:18:32-05:00Our friend Haille is a dive master and environmental ecologist currently working off the Florida coast. She also happens to snap spectacular photographs that we shamelessly share here! The hawksbill sea turtle is a beautiful and smaller species of sea turtle that's unfortunately been hunted for ornamental purposes in the past.Captive AquaticsCairns! (Ecology & Tons of Photos)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c0177447bd30c970d2012-09-02T23:30:22-05:002012-09-09T01:20:12-05:00In between research we decided to take a vacation to Cairns and got a lot of photos. We stayed on a semi-private beach where a mangrove estuary met the ocean. Tidepools were everywhere with a variety of gastropod and barnacle species as well as trapped blennies, gobies, and damsels. Rock anemones and crabs were abundant as well! Cairns is very close to the great barrier reef (see photo taken from the air above) and close to some of the several island research stations I visit for collecting trips. More photos: In additon to it's abundance of aquatic life, Cairns is tropical and features hundreds of miles of tropical rainforest, much of it on the mountain ranges that are up to 3000m tall!Captive AquaticsShovelnose Ray!tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c017c317ba800970b2012-08-26T11:43:26-05:002012-08-26T11:43:26-05:00I'm working on a study that is attempting to locate apex predator breeding areas so that the areas can be marked for conservation. The process includes capturing, measuring, tagging, and releasing various shark species, but today it included the odd looking shovelnose ray! Remember, humans could not and would not exist without sharks - sharks are an integral part of the ocean's food web, and all life on land requires the ocean food web to function!Captive AquaticsResearch in the Southern GBR: Whale Sharks, Turtles, & More!tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c017617105ae7970c2012-08-06T20:36:17-05:002012-08-06T20:37:00-05:00I'm performing research on various outposts scattered throught Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Here are some photos taken from the southernmost tip of the reef showing sea turtles and baby (12m long!) whale sharks. Some pictures feature the bleaching which is what we all hope to get to the bottom of. Many more pictures and many other locations will be added as time permits, as will the results of our findings, although that could be months or years ;). Enjoy!Captive AquaticsWaking up to Sea Turtle Hatchlings!tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c017616b58d17970c2012-07-25T17:34:34-05:002012-07-25T17:37:19-05:00Loggerhead hatchlings heading to the coast in the early morning hours (Thanks Haille!)! Enjoy :)Captive AquaticsOur Quirky Fish: Science Finds Fish Have Personalitiestag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c01676898a14a970b2012-07-18T16:44:49-05:002012-09-10T01:22:22-05:00Pet owners love to talk about how their beloved animals have personalities. Cats are often “haughty” or “affectionate,” while dogs can so often be “calm” or “fun-loving.” These aren’t just variations in breeds, they also reflect difference in the personalities of individual species. Even the most avid fish lovers will have to admit that fish generally aren’t the brightest species on the planet, so many of us don’t expect our fish to have wildly varying personalities. [Editor's note: the following is a guest post by Dabney B. from Okeanos Group] Well, surprisingly, that misconception is completely false. Fish have been scientifically proven to have very distinct personalities. Researchers led by Lynne Sheldon at the University of Liverpool have observed fish and discovered unique differences among individual fish behavior and preferences. The researchers took bold and shy fish and paired them together in fights. They would occasionally stack the fights in one combatant’s favor by pairing a particularly large fish with a much smaller fish. It may not have been the most humane experiment ever conducted, but it produced some fairly interesting results. Fish that won their fights generally became bolder, while fish that lost fights typically became more cautious. One...Captive AquaticsGreen Sea Turtle Photographed in Flower Gardenstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a010535f11c3d970c0168ec1b8487970c2012-06-05T17:01:55-05:002012-06-05T17:01:55-05:00Our friend Haille Carter took this photograph while working for Purda Vida Divers & Surf. Too cool!Captive Aquatics