A&M Aquatics

On a recent vacation, one of our staff members stumbled upon these amazing Lego sculptures. Their size and detail were really impressive.

Have you ever stumbled on great aquarium-related stuff in an unexpected place? Tell us about it! We love seeing appreciation for ocean life no matter where it is.

While we might not see this fish in the industry for a while, it's always exciting to see that there's more hidden treasure in the oceans.

A team of researchers has discovered and described the Rose Veiled Fairy Wrasse. You can read the article announcing their work here: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/78139/

Hooray for new species of fish!

We've seen some pretty crazy anglers come through our doors, but nothing quite like this! It's no wonder tiny fish accidentally wander in front of them. This fella must completely disappear into the ocean floor.

I think this is my all time favorite photo that I have taken. This is a hairy frogfish in the waters of Lembeh, Indonesia, taken with a snoot at night. I was lucky to find this beautiful animal and go back on a night dive to get this shot. He/she was sitting at a depth of 70 feet, with a slight current that helped lift the hairs the way they are shown.⁣
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⁣Shot on my 1DX Mark ii with 100mm lens.

These photos are stunning. It's amazing how different larvae can look from their adult forms. As we continue to dig more and more deeply into aquaculturing marine species, we're going to need to learn a lot more about the food web in the ocean. As scientists are proposing here, matching DNA samples up with photos like these is a great step in that direction.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/science/blackwater-photography-fish-larvae.html?smtyp=cur&smid=fb-nytimes&fbclid=IwAR2o788XpAMYn7PClXoLrR3cI03npOADB1lAHsnRyU5sZChgBp81qrG1L00

The Ocean’s Youngest Monsters Are Ready for Glamour Shots Divers practicing blackwater photography are helping marine scientists gain new insights into fish larvae.

There's nothing quite like making brand new discoveries in the ocean! How about that new fish species found at great depth off of Japan? It's so cool that the oceans still have great surprises like that for us.

Scientists stumbled onto toothy deep-sea "top predator," and named it after elite sumo wrestlers When scientists pulled an unfamiliar monster from the depths of a well-fished, well-explored Japanese bay, they couldn't believe it was really a new species.

Artificial reefs have become a mainstay of ocean conservation, but they don't always look like this. A project in South Florida aims to install 1,000 sculptures that look like mermaids as artificial reefs. The project has been aptly named 1,000 Mermaids. The idea is to enhance marine habitats while also creating eco-tourism locations as well.

If you'd like to learn more about the project, you can find information at https://1000mermaids.com/about-us-and-what-we-do

If you'd like to see underwater video of the first reef that was installed, you can see that here: https://youtu.be/18JElBR3gYE

Our FIRST Underwater HD Video Of Our 1000 Mermaids Artificial Reefs! (8/30/2019) Our FIRST Underwater Video Of Our In Made By Reef Cells c/o Ron William Nash! (8/30/2019) For more info o...

Researchers have found a new coral reef off of the northern tip of the Great Barrier Reef that is taller than the Empire State Building. This is the first time that a reef of its type has been discovered in the area since the late 1800's. It was found by a non-profit group based in California that was conducting 3D mapping of the area.

It's great to see new discoveries coming out of the oceans that we all love so much.

You can read more about the new discovery in this article:

Great Barrier Reef: Scientists find reef taller than Empire State Building Standing 500m (1,640ft) tall, the "blade-like" reef was found off Australia's far north.