יומן של Australasian fishes

ארכיון יומן של מרץ 2018

מרץ 7, 2018

Spot the Blenny!

Many of the 40 Australasian Fishes journal posts have reported 'findings' made by the community. This journal post, however, 'just' shows a terrific image.
The photograph was taken by Wayne Martin at Daveys Bay in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria. It shows a Tasmanian Blenny, Parablennius tasmanianus (view gallery) 'sheltering' in a colonial sea anemone.
Wayne stated, "I had no idea it was a blenny at the time - I did see the tentacle above the eye, but the transparent tail made me question its identity. It made an interesting experience watching it darting around the zoanthids" (colonial sea anemones).
As a keen diver, Wayne has become increasingly concerned by human-induced changes to his local marine environment. These include seeing introduced polychaetes, anchors that destroy old sponges and mussel beds, and dozens of tins of cat food that are thrown overboard to attract angling fishes.
Wayne stated, "I enjoy shore diving, so I don’t bother with a strobe because it is troublesome to carry too much gear on land. I use an RX100 – IV with Fantasea housing. It has a 1” sensor so I don’t have too much noise with my photos."
Thank you Wayne for submitting such a great observation.
הועלה ב-מרץ 7, 2018 10:14 אחה"צ על ידי markmcg markmcg | 2 תגובות | הוספת תגובה

מרץ 26, 2018

Nine new records from Christmas Island!

Hickson Fergusson has been racking up new records for Christmas Island. Thankyou @hix!
Hickson's recent observation of an Orangeline Wrasse Halichoeres hartzfeldii (left image) is the first observation of this species from Christmas Island.
Hickson moved to Christmas Island almost 2 ½ years ago and has since done 104 dives. All the new fish records have been added since he moved. Hickson stated, "The first I found was Neoniphon sammara, within a couple of weeks of arriving, but it took a few months before I could get a photograph with its dorsal fin raised. As far as I can tell, there are only two in Flying Fish Cove, and I saw them again earlier this month, still in the same general area as they were two years ago."
In addition to documenting new occurrences of fish species at Christmas Island, Hickson has supplied underwater photos to JP Hobbs (Curtin University) that have helped in research that has documented 15 hybrid crosses involving 27 species across eight families. So far, eight of the 15 hybrid crosses have been genetically confirmed.
Reference:
Hobbs, JP. & G.R. Allen. 2014 Hybridisation among coral reef fishes at Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Raffles Bulleting of Zoology. Supplement No. 30: 220–226
הועלה ב-מרץ 26, 2018 04:39 לפנה"צ על ידי markmcg markmcg | 2 תגובות | הוספת תגובה

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