Captive Aquatics: An Aquarium and Ecology Blog

Hawksbill Sea Turtle Photographed

Our 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. 

Cairns! (Ecology & Tons of Photos)

In 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:

Earthquake in Indonesia!

An earthquake has hit off the Indonesian Island of Bali early Thursday morning causing many injuries and property damage throughout the island.

 

The U.S geological survey said the earthquake was a 6.0-magnitude and hit about 62 miles southwest of Bali.

 

So far 50 people have been taken to local hospitals with only five suffering from major injuries. 

 

Indonesia is located on the "Ring of Fire" which is a arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin.  This makes the area prone to earthquakes from the constant motion of the faults moving on each other.  In fact, Indonesia suffered a 9.1-magnitude earthquake that occured underwater and caused a tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people in 2004.

 

For this earthquake the U.S Geological Survey has issued no stunami alert and hopefully those who have suffered will recover soon.

 

Picture from www.worldwidehomestay.com

A Trip To The Dallas World Aquarium

I had a recent free day and decided to take the oppurtunity to catch some photographs at the Dallas World Aquarium. Although there were issues like bleaching and pests (aiptasia and red flatworms), DWA has some really amazing corals and fishes. The acan lord in the picture below was over a foot in length! Many of their aquariums also used LEDs for supplementation. Here are some of the pictures that I was able to capture. Enjoy.

NOAA's Virgin Islands Queen Conch Research

My naturalist friend Lauren just got back from performing research on queen conchs in St. Coix, the US Virgin Islands for NOAA, and sent over some pics for me to post!  The conchs are being radio tagged and their migration patterns are being tracked.  The queen conch's numbers are on the decline due to overharvesting for their meat and shells.  Check out the rest of the pics (and captions) below!

 

Japan's Unusual Fish Market Ice Aquarium

Editor's Note:  this post introduces John Douglas, a reef aquarist from Alberta who will be posting aquarium and biological news and info from around the web!

The Japanese are always doing things that seem unusual to us Americans, and their frozen "aquarium" is no exception: opened in 2002 near a fish market, this aquarium features over 400 fish and inverts frozen into "aquariums" made of solid ice. Check out the rest of the unusual pictures!

The Underwater River World of San Marcos, Texas

Take a video tour through the crystal clear spring-fed waters of the San Marcos River, home to the endangered Fountain Darter, Texas Blind Salamander, and Texas Wild Rice.  The stable Edwards Aquifer keeps the river water at a rock-solid 72 degrees, even while the ambient (environmental) temperature swings as much as 80.  Cool temperatures and critters make it a summertime refuge for local college students and tourists alike.

If you're lucky enough to spot them while exploring, you'll more than likely find that the Fountain Darters are as curious about you as you are them...

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Visiting the Monterrey Bay Aquarium

Editor's Note: this post introduces our newest contributing author and photographer, Nate Bernardo.  All images in this post are © Nate Bernardo, 2009.

It was a beautiful Wednesday morning when I decided to head out to Monterey. I packed my bag with water, food, and a book to read on the bus and left my house with my SLR camera.

Ocean-friendly seafood

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has put together a pocket sized seafood eating guide called the Seafood Watch, which contains a list of seafood that are ecologically friendly, as well as those that aren't - view the guide here.  Help prevent the needless deaths of millions of fish from by-catch by avoiding wasteful and ecologically damaging seafood such as imported shrimp!

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