Taking Requests

[1entra]

See if you can get a few snap shots of some stunning wrASSes please...

 

[matt295]

i would like to see some eels. when i was in hawaii i saw a snowflake moray that was going in and out of tunnels. it was very cool. also saw a pair of whitley's boxfish. also some hawkfish would be cool if there are any.

 

[andywg]

/racks his brains for any frogfishes that might be out that way...

 

[showjyr]

See if you can get a few snap shots of some stunning wrASSes please...

oh so clever

Oddly enough even the spell checker picked up on that one.

 

[1entra]

oh so clever

Oddly enough even the spell checker picked up on that one.

 

[SkiFletch]

/racks his brains for any frogfishes that might be out that way...

Hehe, if there are any, you'll be the first to know Andy. I've never heard of any carribean frogfish, but maybe. Heck, I saw an emperor angelfish down there once, those are NOT naitive to the carribean

 

[Musho3210]

/racks his brains for any frogfishes that might be out that way...

Hehe, if there are any, you'll be the first to know Andy. I've never heard of any carribean frogfish, but maybe. Heck, I saw an emperor angelfish down there once, those are NOT naitive to the carribean

probably has something to do with one of us (as fishkeepers, not this forum specifically)

 

[chrissaysyes]

are you insinuating that someone released an emperor angel into the sea?

 

[SkiFletch]

Absoloutely. Happens a lot and is a no joke serious ecological concern, Especially in the Carribean/Keys. Reefs there are suffering greatly from lack of urchins, especially in the Keys. Marine biologists think that the urchins were killed off by a predator or disease from just such a rogue addition. Without the urchins to keep the reef clean, hard corals that once dominated carribean reefs are dwindling rapidly. Reefs there used to be Covered with massive Elkshorn corals as big as cars, and brain corals larger than life. Now, you're lucky if you see a big Elk on a dive, and while brain corals can still be found, they're nothing like they once were.

I've only known the reefs there since the current state of affairs, but my Uncle who'se been living/diving there for longer than I've been alive says I missed out

 

[chrissaysyes]

Uber sad, I hate it when this subject comes up

 

[Lynden]

Shame isn't it, it seems the areas longest inhabited by man are the worst off.

On that subject, if people claim that the marine hobby is destroying the oceans, the bottom line is, it's a drop in the bucket. One could argue that the marine hobby is actually helping the oceans as it prevents otherwise desperate people from using far more damaging methods (dynamite, bottom trawling) to gain sustenance.

Furthermore, the ballast water of ships can carry some fairly surprising things, schools of fish have even been found in them. As such it would be no surprise to me whatsoever if they happened to carry some near microscopic angel or lion fish larvae within them. Just my opinion anyways, I am woefully uneducated on this subject for the most part...

 

[andywg]

Hehe, if there are any, you'll be the first to know Andy. I've never heard of any carribean frogfish, but maybe. Heck, I saw an emperor angelfish down there once, those are NOT naitive to the carribean

Hmm, I thought I recalled A. striatus having been seen there, and it seems I was right. Fishbase lists their range on the Western Atlantic as "off the coast of New Jersey (USA), Bermuda, Bahamas, Gulf of Mexico and throughout the island groups of the Caribbean to the southernmost coast of Brazil". So you should have a chance of seeing them.

A. striatus should be one of the easier (but not necessarily easy) to spot as they tend more to inhabit sand flats and such.

 

[joecoral]

Shame isn't it, it seems the areas longest inhabited by man are the worst off.

On that subject, if people claim that the marine hobby is destroying the oceans, the bottom line is, it's a drop in the bucket. One could argue that the marine hobby is actually helping the oceans as it prevents otherwise desperate people from using far more damaging methods (dynamite, bottom trawling) to gain sustenance.

Furthermore, the ballast water of ships can carry some fairly surprising things, schools of fish have even been found in them. As such it would be no surprise to me whatsoever if they happened to carry some near microscopic angel or lion fish larvae within them. Just my opinion anyways, I am woefully uneducated on this subject for the most part...

i agree, ship ballast water is notorious for introducing alien or non-native species, be it animal, plant etc, and with many areas becoming more and more commercialised and ship traffic therefore increasing, this problem is only going to get worse

 

[SkiFletch]

Ship ballast + European Zebra Mussles = infested Great Lakes. Not exactly reefs of the ocean, but the same principle applies here. A blessing and a curse to those of us that use the waters of the Great Lakes. These alien filter feeders sure cleaned up the water, but without natural predators, their buildup in many locales and especially municipal water intakes is becoming quite an issue.

Lynden, I totally agree on the topic of the hobby rarely being the cause for environmental worry. About the only example I can think of where this is not true is the recent situation with Bangaii Cardinal fish. A special case there though to be sure as Bangaii have very limited range (just one or two small islands in an archipelago), thus making them that much more sensitive to collection. The "officials" in the matter are all still squablling over whether there's a problem or not, but red flags are definitely up regarding their populations.

 

[Musho3210]

remember dolphins and tuna (and still happens today i think), i dont think that was us fishkeepers fault, people just like to point fingers, and whos an easy target to point at? Us.