Answer:  They’re new species whose eggs have been photographed and documented in the Open Source Marine Fish Egg Catalog.

As of this writing, the Egg Catalog has grown to include photos and morphometric measurements of 198 eggs representing 50 species of marine aquarium fishes across 16 families.  Do you have these or other species in our Egg Catalog living in your exhibits?  Ever thought about aquaculturing them?  Get an idea of the size, shape, and morphometrics of their eggs in order to identify and target them in your aquarium or zoo’s larval rearing program.   Check them out in the Egg Catalog!  If you haven't signed up yet, join 456 of your colleagues in the public aquarium and zoo community by registering with your aquarium or zoo email address today.

The Egg Catalog is comprised of marine aquarium fish eggs diligently collected, sampled, and photodocumented by participating public aquaria and zoos:  Aquarium of the Pacific, California Academy of Sciences, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Frost Science Aquarium, Mote Marine Aquarium, Mystic Aquarium, National Aquarium, New England Aquarium, the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, Oceanografic Valencia, and Shedd Aquarium.  The Project is led by the New England Aquarium, Roger Williams University, the California Academy of Sciences, and the Coral Reef Aquarium Fisheries Campaign.  Funding has been generously provided by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Conservation Grants Fund, New England Aquarium, and California Academy of Sciences' Hope for Reefs Fund. 

Photo credits:  (L) E. Levy and (R) F. Libert

Members of the Egg Catalog Team have invested their time and talents, first, in egg collector design.  There are a few ways to collect eggs from aquarium habitats.  Our aquarists have experimented with floating collectors, plankton net collectors, and skimmer collectors.  Any way you cut it, collectors usually need to be customized to the size and shape of the habitat, so our aquarists have manufactured their own collectors to fit their habitats, trying them out, evaluating the results in terms of the quantity and quality of eggs collected, and refining their designs.

Once egg collector designs have been optimized and put in use, next comes the fine art of forecasting when deploying the egg collector will produce the best results; and fine tuning details like water flow to make sure that enough flow is passing through the collector in order to collect enough eggs without being too turbulent so as not to damage them.  If the collector produces a good haul, it’s a delicate practice to transfer eggs from the collector to a container in order to work with them under the microscope, and, subsequently, preserve them for shipping to the DNA Barcoding Lab at the California Academy of Sciences.

Egg photodocumentation is also a new skillset that our aquarists have learned to master over the course of the project.  Our Egg Catalog Team has learned from each other skills like egg handling and transfer, and experimenting with microscope optics like focus and lighting to produce the highest quality photos.

Sign up or login to the Larval Culture Project and check out the results of their talents!  Oh yeah, we’ve also added some new species to the catalog since our last update.  See if you can find them.

Photo:  Members of the Egg Catalog Team collecting and photodocumenting eggs collected from mating fishes in their habitats for inclusion into the Catalog.  From L to R:  New England Aquarium’s Laura Anderson checks for eggs collected in her skimmer collector; Columbus Zoo and Aquarium’s Ramon Villaverde rinses eggs out of his skimmer collector; and Aquarium of the Pacific’s Jenn Anstey and Alex Bohardt harvest and photodocument eggs collected from their habitat.  Photos by (L to R):  M. Schmuck/New England Aquarium, Mia S./Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, and J. Burney/Aquarium of the Pacific. 

Do you work for a public aquarium or zoo?  Do you have any of these species in your exhibits?  Ever thought about aquaculturing them?  Get an idea of the size, shape, and morphometrics of their eggs in order to identify and target them in your aquarium or zoo's larval rearing program.  Check out these and other new species in the Catalog by registering with your aquarium or zoo email address today!

The Egg Catalog is comprised of marine aquarium fish eggs diligently collected, sampled, and photodocumented by the Aquarium of the Pacific, California Academy of Sciences, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Mystic Aquarium, National Aquarium, New England Aquarium, the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, and Shedd Aquarium.  The Project is led by the New England Aquarium, Roger Williams University, the California Academy of Sciences, and the Coral Reef Aquarium Fisheries Campaign.  Funding for the project has been generously provided by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Conservation Grants Fund and New England Aquarium.

Photo credits:  (L) Lyretail Anthias by D. Keats, (R) Axilspot Hogfish by F. Libert

The public aquarium and zoo community has committed the resources and talents of their best and brightest to find out.  Over the past year, participating aquaria and zoos have collaborated to collect fish eggs from aquarium exhibits, photograph them, and submit egg samples for DNA barcoding.  These efforts have culminated in the Open-Source Marine Fish Egg Catalog, hosted on this platform.  It is a resource for the public aquarium and zoo community to identify eggs of mating fishes on exhibit by referencing egg photos and measurements.  The Catalog can help aquaculturists strategically select and prioritize fish species on which to invest their aquaculture talents and efforts.  Are you a member of the public aquarium and zoo community?  Sign up with your institutional email address to check it out!

The Egg Catalog is comprised of marine aquarium fish eggs diligently collected, sampled, and photodocumented by the Aquarium of the Pacific, California Academy of Sciences, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Mystic Aquarium, National Aquarium, New England Aquarium, the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, and Shedd Aquarium.  The Project is led by the New England Aquarium, Roger Williams University, the California Academy of Sciences, and the Coral Reef Aquarium Fisheries Campaign.  Funding for the project has been generously provided by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Conservation Grants Fund and New England Aquarium.

Photos of the Flame Angelfish by (L) F. Libert and (R) M. Schmuck/New England Aquarium