So, what's the story on this one? There's no spectacular story accompanying this description, but I liked the appearence and coloration of the new species. What else do you need to make a painting?
A brand new, beautiful new species of Luzonichthys is described from two specimens, 42-46 mm standard length, collected from Pohnpei, Micronesia. It is named seaver, for the Seaver family in recognition of support from the Seaver Institute for marine research.
Collections of the new species were made by divers (7 October 2014) on mixed-gas closed-circuit rebreathers using hand nets at depths of 90-100 m. Luzonichthys seaver is found at rock outcrops along a steep slope at top of a drop-off.
The genus Luzonichthys Herre 1936 now consists of seven species of small, slender serranids within the subfamily Anthiinae, distributed throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific. The genus is distinguished from other anthiine genera in general body size and shape, and in possessing two fully separated dorsal fins, two opercular spines, and 11+15 vertebrae. Seaver is distinct from all other species of the genus in the characters of lateral line scales, gill rakers, pelvic fin length, caudal concavity and coloration. Of the six species of Luzonichthys, it appears to be morphologically most similar to L. earlei and L. whitleyi.
Read the full decription here: Copus, Joshua M., Cassie A Ka'apu-Lyons, Richard L. Pyle (2015): "Luzonichthys seaver, a new species of Anthiinae(Perciformes, Serranidae) from Pohnpei, Micronesia"- Biodiversity Data Journal 3: e4902 (27 Apr 2015).
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Seahorses are some of the most popular fishes. Everybody knows them. The very first drawing I had published in a 'magazine' was a self made copy of a seahorse. It was an illustration I had submitted with a very short story which I mainly had copied from a book. Hey, I was around eight or ten at the time! I had not learned about copyright in those days. Now I know copying is considered art in China...
This 'first edition' seahorse had been published in a monthly newsletter. A stencil (remember those?). I have lost the copy (of my copy) but the organisation still exists. Delftse Natuurwacht is a foundation actively working with kids. All kinds of activities motivate them to understand and learn about nature.
After all these years I still like seahorses. A few years ago my youngest daughter and I have been breeding them. Yellow Brazilian seahorses, Hippocampus reidi. Most of them turned out black within a few weeks. As seahorses also like to copy. They use camouflage to become one with their enironment. If you want your colored seahorses to maintain their colors, you'll have to add bright colored items into your fish tank. We added yellow pots and rope.
Recently I started to create limited series of ID's (short for Identicals). Another process of copying, but in this case all copies are original artworks. If you want to know why I make handmade copies, read this blog. If you're interested in obtaining an ID of this Copycat Seahorse series, check my ETSYshop.
