Nano Gobies

Nahakyi’s Pygmy Angelfish, Centropyge nahakyi
in our homes. Regardless of the natural future for seahorses,
a handful of popular aquarium species should
persist well into the future as long as we keep buying
them from breeders.
On the IUCN Red List, most Hippocampus are listed
as either “data deficient” or “vulnerable” in status,
with one notable exception. The Knynsa or Cape Seahorse,
H. capensis, is listed as an endangered species due
to fragmented populations and habitat loss as a result
of development. Ironically, this species was being bred
and sold in the aquarium trade for a number of years
by Ocean Rider in Hawaii. According to posts on
the popular Seahorse.org discussion forums, it
appears that this species may be lost to the hobby
and now couldn’t be legally reintroduced because
CITES regulations and South African law prevent
collection. The only way hobbyists might acquire
them is to obtain excess captive-bred individuals
released from a public aquarium that still has
them, but this is generally a rare occurrence.
Ironically, with Ocean Rider producing Hippocampus
capensis commercially, the handful of
hobbyist seahorse breeders apparently didn’t see it
as a species in need of immediate and deliberate
private propagation efforts. Ocean Rider tells us
they still produce and maintain H. capensis, but
are eager to diversify their broodstock population.
It’s disappointing to consider that if the Cape Seahorse is
lost in the wild, it may have missed its chance to persist
in captivity because hobbyists didn’t have the foresight to
help “ark” it when we had the chance.
CLOWNFISHES:
“CLASSICS” OF THE MARINE WORLD
I have been known to rant about clownfishes, because
they are the most popular group I’ll mention, and yet
they include some of the most at-risk species. Case in
point: the Mccullochi Clownfish (Amphiprion mccullochi),
which is only known from Lord Howe Island and
possibly Norfolk Island. With just one or two small,
localized weather catastrophes, this species could quite
easily become extinct in the wild. Thankfully, we do
have a small captive population going, but in order for
the Mccullochi to be preserved in captivity, we need
more people maintaining breeding pairs and watching
their lineages closely.
Of course, the Mcc isn’t the only clownfish in a precarious
position. The Chagos Anemonefish (Amphiprion
chagosensis), unknown to the trade, shares a similarly
restricted geographic distribution. Since the Chagos
Clownfish isn’t collected and isn’t being bred, a captiveark
failsafe doesn’t exist for this species. Chagos lost 90
percent of its reefs during a bleaching event in 1997–
1998. Luckily, it has recovered to about 50 percent coral
cover, according to the Zoological Society of London,
but I have to wonder: What if that bleaching event had
been 100 percent? Would I now be writing about the
first documented extinction of a clownfish species?
Of growing concern is the fact that we have only
recently become more aware of the many geographical
variants that exist among clownfish. Certain commercial
breeders (most recently Sustainable Aquatics) are
taking steps to obtain and breed these unique varieties,
including the many forms of the Cinnamon Clownfish
(Amphiprion melanopus). In March/April of 2012, Sustainable
Aquatics made available both the polymorphic
stripeless Coral Sea variant and a beautiful Blue Stripe
SCOTT W. MICHAEL
42 CORAL