Marine Community Exhibit

The distinctive characteristic of this family is the scalpel-like scale that has been modified at the base, the peduncle, of the tail.  There may be one or two of these very sharp scales depending on the individual which helps protect these fish from danger.  They have small mouths that have one row of teeth to allow them to graze on algae.

Engineer Goby are eel-shaped fish that swim in tight formation schools to look like one organism.  Juveniles resemble a poisonous striped catfish to fend of predators.  During the day they will hunt for plankton and at night return to their burrows.  During the day, the adults will continue borrowing, moving up to 6.6 pounds of sand.  Some burrows reach the length of 6 meters.  Adults will take in mouthfuls of juveniles and spit them out again collecting a green slime for their food source.

At night, young fish dangle by their mouths from the roof of the tunnels by thin mucous threads.

Mandarinfish have a layer of smelly and bitter slime instead of scales which helps to block disease.  This and its bright coloration discourages predators from attacking.

They have large pectoral fins that allows them to “walk” on the sea floor while their pectoral fins are near their center and are nearly transparent.  Their name comes from their bright coloration evokes the image of the robes of an Imperial Chinese mandarin.

Clownfish host anemones and they create a symbiotic mutualistic relationship.  The anemones protects the clownfish from predators and provide food through their scraps and in return the clownfish defend the anemones from predators and parasites.

The mucus coating of the clownfish is based on sugars rather than proteins which makes the anemone fail to recognize them as a food source and does not sting them.

Male pajama cardinal fish incubate eggs in his mouth until they hatch. Once they hatch, he spits them out and then they are on their own.

The black band helps camouflage them with the spines of sea urchins and coral structures.  They hang out in small schools and found hovering in one place by caves or corals.  At night though they will split from their school and go hunting themselves.  Their huge eyes make it easier for them to see at night.

The Regal Blue Tang is known by many names among which is the Blue Tang and Blue Hippo Tang.  They are part of the surgeon fish family which the defining characteristic is the scalpel-like spine on the base of their tail.  For the Blue Tang, the spine is yellow and located on the yellow part of their tail.  It is used as a mode of defense towards threatening fish.

They eat algae which is instrumental in coral reefs because it keeps algae at low levels so that they don’t choke out corals.  The Regal Blue Tang has a small mouth and a single row of teeth to help them get into the tight crevices of rocks and corals.

Regal Blue Tangs live in pairs or in small groups or schools of 8 to 14 individuals.  Males will aggressively court the femals and they can quickly spawn.  They release the eggs and sperm in the evening time where they float near the surface of the water because of a tiny droplet of oil in each egg.  The eggs will hatch within 24 hours of being fertilized.

We don’t recommend eating them.  It is used as bait fish in commercial fishing because of the strong odor on the flesh from certain toxins.  If consumed by people, then it causes ciguatera poisoning. Symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, numbness, itchiness, temperature sensitivity, dizziness, and weakness.

The Navarchus Angelfish is one of the smaller out of the larger species of angelfish.  They are also known as the Blue-Girdled Angelfish and the Majestic Angelfish.  As they grow from a juvenile to an adult, their coloration changes.  As juveniles they have more blue whereas as an adult they gain their yellow color.  Navararchus Angels also have a long spine on their gill cover as a defense mechanism.

Navarchus Angels will start their life as a female and will eventually become a male if the right environmental conditions allow them.

Grouper because of the way it is shaped.  As a juvenile they swim with their heads downwards and as they get older they start to add more grays and beige into their coloration.

They are an ambush predator so they wait until the prey is close enough for them to attack.  Groupers are territorial and solitary preferring to have their own space.

The Flame Angelfish are also known as the Japanese Pygmy Angelfish.  Flame Angelfish are a type of dwarf angelfish so they only grow to about 6 inches where as a full size angelfish is between 8-12 inches.  Dwarf angelfish are also considered reef safe as they don’t normally nip at corals whereas the full size angelfish are not considered reef safe as they have a tendency to nip and eat corals.

The name crab is misleading because they are not true crabs or even true crustaceans.  Horseshoe Crabs are considered living fossils because of their origin of 244 million years ago.

Their mouth is located in the center of five pairs of legs.  After the legs are the book gills which exchange respiratory gases and sometimes used for swimming.

Horseshoe crabs use hemocyanin to carry oxygen in their blood and the copper present in hemocyanin makes their blood blue.  Their blood contains amebocytes which is similar to out white blood cells in defending against pathogens.  Amebocytes are used to detect bacterial endotoxins in medical applications.

Cleaner shrimp have a mutually beneficial association with fish.   The fish benefit of having parasites removed from them and the shrimp gain the nutritional value of the parasites.  Shrimp will also clean around wounds of fish from parasites and mucus which decreases infections and stress, and helps healing.  Shrimp will congregate in cleaning stations.

The Pencil Sea Urchin has thick round spines that allow it to bore into hard substrates to defend itself, wave drag, and pressure.  Its spines are made of magnesium calcite that is arranged so that there is a porous network to allow fluids and other organic matter to pass within them.  The closer the spine is to the body, the less porous it is.

The Pencil Sea Urchin has thick round spines that allow it to bore into hard substrates to defend itself, wave drag, and pressure.  Its spines are made of magnesium calcite that is arranged so that there is a porous network to allow fluids and other organic matter to pass within them.  The closer the spine is to the body, the less porous it is.

The Blue Legged Hermit Crab sifts through the sand looking for food.  In the aquarium world they are considered to be part of the cleanup crew

They change shells and if they cannot find one then they will temporarily hide by an anemones foot for protection.  They also molt their exoskeleton as they continue to grow.

Corals are marine invertebrates that live in compact colonies of identical individual polyps.  They have tentacles that can sting and bring their food to their stomach.  Once they are done digesting, they expel their waste through the same hole as their mouth.

There are two types of corals.  Hard corals live in colonies are look like rock-like formations.  Soft corals look like plants.

Corals have a symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae that photosynthesizes and gives the coral energy, nutrients and color.

Under high stress the polyps of the coral will expel the zooxanthellae going through a bleaching event.  This increases their chance of survival for a short time but if the stress persists then the polyp can die.

Coral reefs have an extreme diverse ecosystem which can host over 4000 species of fish, cnidarians, mollusks, crustaceans and many other animals.

They have distinctive eight-leaved tentacles on each polyp.  Each individual polyp is an animal and they live in colonies.  They are a type of encrusting coral and will grow over rock and other corals.  They can retract as a defensive mechanism and are considered peaceful.

Corals have a symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae that photosynthesizes and gives the coral energy, nutrients and color.

They are of the phylum Cnidaria which is the same phylum that the jellyfish are in.  There are many species in this family that range to solitary corals to colonial species.  The ones that are in this tank are colonial.  Each one of those individual “mushrooms” is one individual that are living together in a colony.  They can remain detached from the sand or rock so that they could move around if they wanted to.

They are very hardy corals which is perfect for the beginning aquarists.  They can tolerate high levels of nitrates and other organic compounds that will usually kill other fish and corals.  However, they will brighten and be healthier with less levels of nitrates and organic compounds.

These corals can be blue, red, green, brown, purple and sometimes with stripes, spots, or mottled color variations.

They will also reproduce until they cover the substrate on what they grow.

These corals will also host the zooxanthellae in a symbiotic relationship.  The zooxanthellae provide it nourishment from the sun by photosynthesizing up to 90% of the coral’s energy for metabolism, growth, and reproduction.  In return, the coral gives them nutrients, carbon dioxide, and an elevated position towards the sun.

Leather corals are a soft coral with visible polyps all over them.  Since they are a soft coral they do not have a calcified skeleton structure. They have the ability to sting other corals as well as emit chemicals to ward off other corals from entering into their space.

We have the:

Umbrella Leather

Toad Stool

Anemone is able to photosynthesize by its symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae and collects nutrient through them.

Also, has a symbiotic relationship with anemonefish.  The anemone provides shelter and defense for the anemonefish while the fish provides food and defense against other predators.

The tips of the anemones will have the bulbs based on flow, light, bacterial count, color, and if its hosting or not