Bird Nose Wrasse

Visitor: "You know that blue fish...?"

Staff: "Ahh yes, it's the bird nose wrasse."

Everyone knows the blue fish that is Dory from Finding Nemo (Regal Tang), the small devil damsels and yellow tail damsels are also blue fish, and even though they look pretty, no one wants to know about them.

But this blue fish; the bird nose wrasse (Gomphosus varius) gets a lot of enquirers and look at it!

Why wouldn't it?

Many people are just content knowing the name of this fish, though many more want to know "What's up with that nose?" This species has a long snout, you may make out that it looks a growth is growing on that snout. It's really common for these fish to develop tumors on their nose, this happens in the wild also. They have long snouts because they use them to stick between rocks and crevices to pick away at any crustaceans like small crabs hiding away in there. Rocks and crevices can be sharp which irritates their nose causing this growth. You may be wondering if it's serious. It can be but only if the growth interrupts their feeding. 

As you can see this is a nice healthy fish, he eats well and isn't skinny. We do have the option to operate if the growth becomes a problem, we have a vet that can perform the operation if the need be. But, there's nothing to worry about for now. He's a fine strong healthy fish that enjoys his food. He's doing fine. I say "he" because this blue fish is a boy.

You can tell if the bird nose wrasse is a boy or a girl just by the colour. The blue ones are boys, the pinky/orange/browny ones are girls:

It would be pretty easy to look at this fish and decide it was a different species altogether. But no, she's a bird nose wrasse who hasn't developed a tumor. Both swim together in our Lagoon tank.

Not the information you were looking for? Try Fishbase.org

Deaths Head Hawk Moth Caterpillars

Let’s talk about some bugs now, for those bug people out there; the Deaths Head Hawk Moth Caterpillars (Acherontia atropos). This is the largest moth found in the U.K, with its wingspan measuring 15 cm (6 inches) You might remember them from appearing on movie posters such as “Silence of the Lambs”. But that’s the moth, not the caterpillar; I will talk more about the moth when they are moths.

You may notice the photo is of much better quality. That's because I didn't take it.

Ultimately I was drawn to them because they looked like lucha libre sausages. Then I found out all they do is eat and that was it. Awesome.

Unfortunately these aren't residents of the bughouse, they are a personal project for entomologist Paul who's manager of the bughouse. His goal is to breed the adult moths when they emerge.

When I first saw these guys they were about 4cm and as thick as a pencil, a couple of days later they were 10cm and as thick as my pointing finger! They like to eat, that's all they do, and Paul had to keep going out supplying them with food. 4 buckets of privet (a hedge shrub plant) a day for 16 caterpillars. In the wild they feed on potato crops or nightshade plants, the fact pesticides are sprayed on potato crops is probably why they aren't as common in the wild as they used to be.

I found out this morning these caterpillars have pupated, they buried themselves in their soil and will stay there for around 3 months, and then an adult moth will emerge from the soil. Check back in 3 months to find out about the Deaths Head Hawk Moth.

Not the information you were looking for? Try UKmoths.org.uk

Spiny Spider Crab

We have new additions to the Aquarium! Well, new to the viewing public, we've been hiding them behind the scenes for about 4 months so they're sort of part of the furniture to me, which doesn't mean I've lost interest in them, in fact, now they're out and can actually be seen by people, my interest has peeked. Let's take a look at them.

The Spiny Spider Crab or the delicious sounding Maja squinado is a hefty sized crab. It's not counted as the largest crab found in British waters, that's the edible crab. But if we go on leg spanning size then the Spiny Spider Crab is longer. The carapace (that's the big middle bit where the legs stick in) of the Spiny Spider Crab can grow up to 20cm across, edible crabs can get to 25cm and edible crabs are heavier.

You may be able to make out green fuzz on the crab in my picture coming off the crabs legs and carapace. Don't worry, it's meant to be there. It's actually algae; you can see it on the walls next to him, as an aquarist I feel slight shame in showing off our algae walls, you may think the algae adds to the tank and not see a green mess and I encourage you to keep thinking that, we can also call it seaweed which makes it look better... Though, the fact the algae is in this tank is actually great, and here's why:

The crab has picked at that algae off the walls and attached it to it's legs and carapace. Why would it do such a thing? To camouflage of course. In the wild they will place seaweed or sponges on their bodies and hide themselves in with their surroundings. I think that's pretty clever.

We've got two of these crabs in each of our modest sized local species tanks. The pictured one is from the "Hilbre tank", which is the tank that looks like it's empty.

It's not actually empty, all the animals in the tank have amazing abilities of avoiding being seen, and the design of the tank also helps them with this. Which we are going to sort out.

This is the same tank taken from above. You may have spotted that rather large common starfish hiding in the corner... there were two more hiding in that corner too, the dogfish on the floor can be seen from the top, but those looking in and down in the tank from outside wouldn't see him, three other dogfish were hiding in the far left hand corner too, and a couple of spiny starfish are- you guessed it- hiding in a corner. There are about 8 goldsinny wrasse and a couple of rock cooks and a male and female cuckoo wrasse (all fishes) living behind the rocky theme.(far right in the photo, behind that barrier) They're fine, they feed well, they just don't get seen other than by us when we look down on the tank. Catching them is pretty difficult. But one day soon we will sort this tank out and I will blog about it.

It may be difficult to spot the spiny spider crabs but trust me, it is worth having a proper look round the tanks, look down into the corners too, you may spot some of our other animals pretending not to exist.

Not the information you were looking for? Try MarLIN.ac.uk

Raccoon Butterfly fish

Some more tropical reef fishes to look at, we have a load of these, you may have noticed them as the colourful ones. That's not a shot at our local species, because fish like the cuckoo wrasse (who will get a blog at some point) is a colourful fish, but for the most part, and compared to tropical reef fish, the cold water species look drab. (I can say this, because they're my favourite).

The Raccoon Butterfly fish (Chaetodon lunula) is in my opinion the best of our butterfly fish. Only because it's named after a Raccoon. I'm sure you can spot why it's named after a raccoon (those black patches around its eyes). It's a really neat looking butterfly fish.

They like to eat soft corals and anemones; much to our dismay. The anemones might be able to avoid predation if they have Clownfish living in them protecting them, otherwise they're a tasty treat for a butterfly fish. Soft corals can look awesome, a really awesome looking soft coral called Xenia would be eye candy for our tanks. Best way I can describe them would be they look like lots of feathery hands grasping at nothing. Unfortunately we can't share these soft corals with you because within minutes of putting them in the butterfly fish (and I'm looking at you raccoon butterfly fish) will have demolished it and be swimming around bellies full looking mightily proud of themselves. Ok, maybe I just imagine that as fish don't mock us, I don't think.

Not the information you were looking for? Try fishbase.org

Anthias

Going back onto our tropical fish now, because there are a few to get through, up next is this little fella...

I'm sorry, I mean lady. This is a female anthias. And below is the male. 

This is the sort of picture that would make fish enthusiasts or even just someone looking for a nice fish picture weep. It also makes me question my decision to take photos of the animals with my phone and not ask for a hot shot photographer. But nah, it's charming isn't it? I like to think so. Enough about my life. Let's talk about the fish.

I've been introduced to these fish as "anthias" and I know them by their binomial name Pseudanthias squamipinnis, other people know these fish as "Sea Goldie". But enough about their life. Let's talk about the fish.

This species shows sexual dimorphism, that means you can look at these fish and tell which ones a male anthias and which is a female anthias. There are a lot of marine animals where just having a quick look won't do, some you have to chop open to see, but these guys have made it easier for us.

The females are orange and a little smaller, they have a neon-punk style violet streak below their eye. My photo will never do it justice, a photo from wikipedia will though:

The males are a bit bigger, about one and a half times as big as the females, this is my casual observation- it's not science. The males are a wicked fuchsia colour, and have an elongated ray on their dorsal fin. You can sort of make it out in my photo. Though I know it's there so I can see it. I will find you a better one. Wikipedia once again.

Males also have fancy tail fins. It's hard to explain, but they're  more pointy and elegant than the females.

My favourite thing about these fish are that they are sequential hermaphrodites. This is why animals and nature are just mind blowingly-amazingly-supercalifragiciously awesome! Anthias are protogynous hermaphrodites, this means all anthias are born female but some have the ability to change their sex into male. Lots of fish live in harems (anime nerds may be familiar with a harem), a harem is a group consisting of many females to one male. You'll have about 5-10 female anthias all sharing the one male anthias. If that male dies, and they're male-less, one of the females in the group will change their sex and become the male to the harem, and help produce more babies. There are other types of sequential hermaphrodites, and there is a very popular fish that I'm not going to give away just yet... but when I talk about them, you will find out. *wink*

Not the information you were looking for? Try FishBase.org

Greater Pipefish

The second most asked question I get as an aquarist after "toilet?" is "Do you have any seahorses?" People LOVE seahorses. I know I break their heart when I tell them "No, but...

...we do have Pipefish, which are related to seahorses" (If I wanted to show off I would call them Syngnathus acus, but I don't, because I don't speak Latin well).

Some will fain interest at the animals related to seahorses, others won't look me in the eye, I've been spat at! and children begin to cry... ok, maybe not that drastic. Those that are still interested in these creatures are first to point out that their heads and snouts are a bit like a seahorse! They use these snouts to "vacuum" in their food, they will eat small crustaceans like mysis shrimp- hoovering them up. It's pretty neat to watch, there's a bit of food in front of their face, *vrooom*, now it's gone quick as a flash.

So why is the homelier pipefish awesome? I like these guys because they are gluttons.Actually, that's a bit harsh, we feed them three times a day not because they're greedy, but because they don't actually have stomachs. Yeah, seahorses don't have stomachs either. Food goes in and passes out fairly quickly, so they need a constant supply of food for nourishment.

Feeding time is always fun, there are a lot more in the tank then you would think first glance. They're incredible at camouflaging and finding a nook or cranny to hide in. Then when food is there, they all come out of hiding and you'll see about 19.

Not the information you were looking for? Try MarLIN.ac.uk

Mantis Shrimp

One of the best parts of my job is discovering animals I didn't know we had... take for example this fella...

The Mantis Shrimp! He is only about 5cm at the moment these can grow to 30cm! I do not know which species this one is, there are over 400 species of mantis shrimp- perhaps if I get a minute I can look through 400 descriptions and tell you but today isn't that day. 

So how could I not know about this little awesome guy? Easy; shrimps, urchins, crabs, mantis shrimps and all sorts come in on live rock. In the back we have quarantine tanks with lots of corals and lots of live rock, (the rocks aren't alive, it's the marine life that lives inside these rocks that give to its name). Just like in the oceans there are loads of animals yet to be discovered, the same can be said for our tanks! 

I know that hobbyists aren't so enthused if they see one of these little guys scuttling along in their tanks because they can be pests- eating the corals, burrowing through them and destroying them, eating the fish... maybe if we hadn't have managed to catch and isolate him I wouldn't be so enthused either.

The Mantis shrimp like many other species of the world is ill named, because it isn't a shrimp. Why isn't it a shrimp? Shrimps are in the order decapoda and mantis shrimps are in the order stomatopoda. Shrimps have 10 legs, mantis shrimps have 6 legs and a load of fin like appendages known as pleopods (shrimps have those too) and like a shrimp the mantis shrimp is a crustacean. But yeah, it's not a shrimp.

Let's have some awesome facts:

Mantis shrimps are either "smashers" or "spearers" depending on their "raptorial appendage" otherwise known as claws. This raptorial appendage is why they're called a "mantis" shrimp, because it's very similar to the grasping front legs of a preying mantis. 

The "smashers" claws have a hardened calcified "club" on the outer edge of their raptorial appendage which they can use to hammer, club or smash through their prey! Prey with hard-bodies like crabs.

The "spearers" have a row of spines along the outer edge of their raptorial appendage, these sharp spines can slash, stab and disembowel their prey. Prey with soft bodies like fish and shrimp.

I would go take a closer look at our mantis shrimp for science to see if hes a smasher or a spearer, but I've heard a smashers claw can go through glass! So it would have no trouble going through my finger. Ok, he might only be 5cm but I don't want to risk it. 

Pajama Cardinalfish

I thought I best do another fish. Fish are so tricky to get a photo of though, except these guys...

The Pajama Cardinalfish, known to super enthusiasts as Sphaeramia nematoptera. I have three main reasons why I dig these fish.

Reason One- The common name. "Pajama", it's a great word and enjoyable to say.

Reason Two- Their body. It looks like someones chopped up three different fish and stuck a head, a body, and a tail from the three different fish together.

Reason Three- They stay still when I want to take a photo.

You'll notice there are quite a few of these in our Coral Crest tank, they're social fishes even if they do look miserable.

These are a staple to most aquariums, I usually spot about 20 when I'm visiting another aquarium. They're a relatively hardy tropical fish species, pretty peaceful, like to be in groups, stay still and can be seen!

I can think of another reason why I dig these fish, the males incubate the eggs in their mouths. Neat!

Not the information you were looking for? Try Fishbase.org

Snakelocks Anemone

Lets take a look at another animal without a face today (though they do have mouths, in the middle hidden beneath those tentacles which they push food towards, no eyes though)

The snakelocks anemone or Anemonia viridis in the Latin. I like how the genus name gives away that it's an anemone. Not many species are so considerate.

You can think of anemones as upside down jellyfish. That's what I do. Upsidedown stuck on jellyfish. They stick themselves down to a hard surface using their suction cup like oral discs, like these guys have chosen the rock. They can move, they can shuffle about, and even jump! Now my favourite anemone fact has to do with them shuffling. So an anemone, shuffles on some rock and oops, it's left a part of itself behind that's still stuck, it shuffles on leaving that little bit of tissue. This little bit of tissue can grow into a new anemone! AMAZING! This is called pedal laceration and is a form of asexual reproduction.

So, like Jellyfish these guys can sting. They have stinging cells called nematocysts. (More about these when I talk about some other anemones we have). Now, typically we shouldn't worry about British Anemones and their sting, but if you see these ones on the beach I wouldn't recommend touching them. Look out for flowy tentacles, other anemones have a body wall which they can contract their tentacles into and end up looking like a blob. These don't contract, it's all just tentacles. I say don't touch because from personal experience these can leave you with a nasty rash. It's a bit like being stung by nettles, it's not going to kill you but it's not a pleasant experience either, best to just avoid it if you can.

Not the information you were looking for? Try MarLIN.ac.uk

Thornback Ray

This one is for all you shark lovers out there...

"That's a ray!?!" Yeah, don't panic, I've not gone mad. This is a Thornback Ray (Raja clavata- if I ever needed a stage name, this latin name would be the name for me)
It may not be the shark you're thinking of but it is an Elasmobranch, and members of the Elasmobranch subclass include sharks, rays and skates. They are very closely related and I like to think of rays as flattened sharks. Instead of a bones these have a cartilaginous skeleton. Feel your ears at the top, that's the same sort of stuff. It's all bendy and flexible (don't go mad now, no need to hurt yourself). Having bendy cartilage instead of rigid bone allows these animals to be more flexible in water and allow them to make swift turns and do graceful loop de loops.

You often find these Rays eggcases (or Mermaids Purses) washed up on the strandline on our beaches. Identifying the eggcase to a species will tell you what species are living and breeding in those waters.

The Sharks Trust run a Great Eggcase Hunt, if you find an eggcase then send in your results. Sharks and Rays numbers have been declining, this information helps identify areas of potential nursing grounds and gives a better understanding of the abundance and distribution of certain species.  Click here to find out more about the Great Eggcase Hunt and how to get involved

I've had to say "goodbye" to two lots of Thornback Rays in my few years at the aquarium. That's because this species can grow to 140cm (4 feet 7 inches), and the tank we keep them in is not big enough to accommodate that size. We have good contacts with other aquariums who are more than happy to take them off our hands and display these beautiful creatures in their much larger tanks. In return we get baby rays captive bred from other aquariums that we grow on and put on display as juveniles for a few years until they outgrow us and need to move on. It's a sharing and caring cycle.

The picture is a young Thornback Ray we are currently beefing up in our tanks off display. At the moment they are a bit too small to go into our larger tanks, and a bit too big to go into any of our smaller tanks. They are feeding well and have grown well these past few months too, so I'm confident it won't be too long until they're big enough to compete with food with the likes of the dogfish and massive plaice that already occupy their new home.. Look out for them in this Aquarium soon!

Not the information you were looking for? Try MarLIN.ac.uk

Mexican Red Knee Tarantula

You may have been wondering where the bugs be at. I have to space out the bugs, compared to aquarium members the bugs are outnumbered. Of course in terms of real life bugs way outnumber everything else:

For every human there are 150-170 million bugs.
Guesstimating how many fish there are is something people don't like to do, those that do say a trillion. Let's compare a trillion to 6-7 billion Humans. We are outnumbered! But we're on about loads of bugs, so

a trillion fish vs 6-7 billion multiplied by 170 million... my brain hurts. But yes. Bugs outnumber fish and humans. COMBINED!

Phew.

The Mexican Red Knee Tarantula or Brachypelma smithi (for those who only work with binomial naming), are probably the best known spider in the world, if not spider than defiantly tarantula. The red knee is what comes to mind when someone says tarantula, they've entered popular culture.The moody photo doesn't do the spider justice but just google mexican red knee and that will be the tarantula you know well.

This species is near threatened. They are rare in the wild because they have been over collected for the pet trade. There are now specialist breeding programmes set up to breed this species in captivity for the pet trade, it will be some time before those in the wild recover their numbers though.

Now, I wouldn't say I'm screamish with spiders, but I'm happy keeping my distance from them. I don't handle them, don't wish to.. I pop my hand in the tank to give them some water and I'm cool with that. I wouldn't get too close though, I know about their urticating hairs which they kick up from their abdomen and legs which can cause bad irritation for a week or so.  

Not the information you were looking for? Try ARKive.org

Common Cuttlefish

Up next we have a marine mollusc. (and, to be super bias, one of my favourites).

A recent addition to the aquarium is the common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis). Though the name tries to suggest it, these animals are not fish at all, but molluscs, they’re related to octopus, squids and nautiluses, and more related to a garden snail than a fish. Maybe it was named by the same person who named the starfish a starfish when that's not a fish either. Then again, there's no true definition of a fish or what an actual fish is, but that's way to clever for me to even try and touch on, so I won't.

When we first got these cuttles in they were only a few cm in length, we fattened them up in the back and waited till they were feeding fine and grown on to put them out. They’re currently around 6cm in length.

(I do apologise for my gross looking finger. My hands are gross due to working with salt water, and also my fingernails grow pretty quickly and I'm convinced that's the salt too.)

The common cuttlefish can grow up to 50cm though the majority grow to 20-30cm in length and eat smaller molluscs like snails and clams, as well as crabs, shrimps and small fish. They are eaten by sharks and larger fish. They're also known to eat each other. But fear not, these guys have grown up together and get plenty of food so they won't be eyeing each other up for dinner.

Cuttlefish are amazing animals; I like to think of them as little rippling aliens. They can change the colour (by controlling their chromatophores) and texture of their skin to help camouflage into their surroundings. If you happen to be in our aquarium go and take a look you and you will notice the different body patterns each cuttle has depending on where they are in the tank. If they’re by a darkened patch with stones and other bits going on, they will create a disrupted body pattern- displaying a variety of coloured tones to blend in, and if they’re in clear sand the cuttle will be all one colour and bumpy.

This is going to be a long one because I do love these cuttlefish. So brace yourself for some reading, or just stop reading altogether and look at the pictures. Here's another picture.

Watching a cuttlefish feed is one of the best things ever. As a massive fan of watching animals chomping away believe me when I say this is something special. Cuttles are attracted by movement, if they see a crab or shrimp tottering along they will be on it. They like to "lure" their prey. Imagine the scene, there's a shrimp about and the cuttles spotted him, he heads over that way. Now the cuttle is face to face with this shrimp and now the cuttles moving two arms from side to side. The shrimps confused and curious, what is this lure? is it food? The cuttlefish still wiggling about starts to shimmer, ripples of colour go across his body and the shrimp is just fascinated, and in that instant the shrimp lets his guard down and the cuttle strikes! There are two tenticles hidden behind the 8 arms that are visible, these are special as they're long and fast and used to grab and stick to food. The shrimps now caught and stuck on the cuttles tentacles, and the cuttle pulls the tasty shrimp into its mouth (located behind all those arms). And starts to nibble away at it with its beak. Yes. Beak. I didn't say teeth I said beak. What a way to go.

Not the information you were looking for? Try MarLIN.ac.uk

Common Lobster

Enough about fish, let's pay some attention to a member of the crustacea subphylum (that just means a crustacean). The common Lobster, and you can call them a Homarus gammarus, and I do like to say that out loud several times fast. It's a good word. Onto the animal...

You can eat these, and if you've ate lobster you may have eaten this type. "But it's blue and all gorgeous!" you may say. It is, it goes red and less glamorous when it has been cooked. Our's is a bit small at the minute, so put your forks away, she won't make much of a meal.

My favourite fact about Lobsters involve their claws. Each one has a different function, the larger of the two is the "crusher", think of it like a nutcracker, it crushes its prey, the other is a "cutter", the edges are much sharper and can be used to cut up their prey, think of it like a pair of scissors, they can also just hold onto their prey too. It's not the fact each claw has a different function that is my favourite fact, it's the fact that though usually the left claw will be the "crusher" and the right claw the "cutter" it's not always the case... which means you can get left handed Lobsters, at least that's how I think about it, and it puts a smile on my face.

I took this photo a day after I made up the little rock house for her to place herself in, which she did... but, another day on she's decided that placing herself between the pipe and glass is a better idea than having a house. These animals...

Not the information you were looking for? Try MarLIN.ac.uk

Tomato Clownfish

You've not quite found Nemo, but it's easy to make that mistake. These are Tomato Clownfish, (Amphiprion frenatus) members of the Clownfish family, related to Nemos (False Clownfish/Amphiprion ocellaris) but totally different. You may be able to tell by looking that they look a little meatier, and only  have one white band on their body, Nemos are a bit more slender, with three white bands, but enough about those, it's not their day today).

Clownfish as cute as they are, are actually quite territorial and some may dare say vicious. But only in an evolved to stay alive way. They have a symbiotic relationship with Anemones, which basically means, they live together and both benefit from it. The clownfish have shelter in the stinging tentacles, scientists don't even know why for certain clownfish don't get stung, there's many theories, the most popular being their slime coat* feels to the anemone like itself, so it thinks it's just rubbing along itself so it's not going to try sting itself... but then, anemones have been seen to sting other prey with the clownfish inside... mysteries.

*(Mostly all fish are covered with a slime coat or mucus that acts as a barrier from nasty things like parasites getting into their scales).

The relationship is great for the Anemone too. Because though they don't look very appertising, there are some types of fish that will have a nibble at it. (Butterfly fish, I'm looking at you). The Clownfish, bold as anything- come out of the Anemone and quickly attack any fish going for a bite. As someone who's had their hand in a tank and been attacked, I can honestly say they pack a bigger punch than you may think.

Not the information you were looking for? Try fishbase.org

Yellow Tail Damsel fish

That's a pretty rubbish photo you may be saying to yourself, and I agree. Unless you thought it was good and in that case thank you very much! See, what I'm trying to do is give you the authentic aquarium experience. You know how it is, you go to an aquarium, take loads of photos and when you review them you realise the fish were swimming round the whole time, making your snaps blurry imperfections. Us Aquarists don't have a secret way of taking good pictures, so never feel bad.

Ok, onto the yellow tail damsel fish, or Chrysiptera parasema for those who are fans of binomial names.These are not to be confused with the blue devil damselfish we have (Chrysiptera cyanea), the most obvious way of telling these two species of little blue fish apart is the Yellow Tail Damsel has a yellow tail, and the blue devil damsel has a goatee and horns... actually they don't, they're just all blue.

If you like your fish a stunning blue then these are the fish for you. We keep our damsels in small groups of 6-8. If there are less they tend to not get on and get very territorial, but in small groups they get along in perfect harmony.

Not the information you were looking for? Try fishbase.org

Regal Tang

All these animals are my children, so you'd think I shouldn't have favourites, but I do. The same can be said for me having "less favourites", and the Regal Tang or Paracanthurus hepatus (for those of us who want to say that out-loud in a room full of people and feel smart), falls into that category. "WOAH! WAIT! WHY?!" you may cry, because they are some beautiful fish. I've learnt to bite my tongue when people express how beautiful these fish are, they are even my Nan's favourite. But these fish are bullies. I've observed this over time.

I can't deny that with their vibrant blue, and striking yellow tail that these are beautiful fish, they are. And Dory was the best thing about Finding Nemo, but it doesn't make amends for the temperament of these fish. Some fish are really easy-going-get-along-with-everyone-and-bumble-about fish and they are my favourite. Other fish can be possessive and protective of their space and their territory, and these fish needed this obviously to survive so I don't want you to think I am having a go at these fish, they're just not my kind of fish, you know?

Regal Tangs are a type of surgeonfish, there are 80 different species of surgeonfish. These fish are characterised by their sharp "scalpel-like spines" (Hence "Surgeon"fish), the regal tang has these razor sharp spines on each side by the base of their tail.

OW! That can cut you like a knife.

Not the information you were looking for? Try fishbase.org

Mono

The next fish I've chosen for you in no particular order is the Mono. No, it's not a piranha, I promise you it's not. Piranha's live in fresh water, and we are a salt water aquarium. It's a mono, or Monodactylus argenteus for those who appreciate Latin. You still don't believe me do you? Google it.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Mono is that they are commonly mistaken for piranhas. Ahh, I'm just kidding mono, I'm sure you're a fascination really, and there's far more to you than being mistaken for a piranha. Just give me a minute to think it up...

It may be the name we refer to them as which has made me think nothing much of this fish. "Mono", in other parts of the world it's known as a "Silver Moony" or "Sea Angel", now those are names for an interesting fish!

These fish live in brackish conditions, and perfect for our Mangrove display. They are adapted to live in fresh water or salt water, or water that is between the two.

These are some tough fish, I have been at the aquarium for nearly 3 years and in this time I have not known one of these fish to die! (And only one archer fish from the mangrove display has). That's pretty impressive, take an aquarist word for it.

Not the information you were looking for? Try fishbase.org