This weekend our friend Koji Wada reopened his freshly renovated Blue Harbor fish store to the public. The Osaka, Japan based store is known throughout the world for its rare fishes, and this reopening did not disappoint. As much as we would have loved to traverse that 9,000 mile gap, I had to leave it [...]
For our Japanese readers, or those planning to make a trip in the near future, Koji Wada’s well known shop Blue Harbor will be reopening this weekend after intense renovation. Congrats to Koji on the remodel and the new shark tank!
Taken from the second level, here you can see some of the recently re-stocked holding [...]
Hemanthias vivanus is a deepwater anthias species that is found throughout the Atlantic, including the Gulf of Mexico, south to Brazil. It is a rare offering in the industry due to the extreme depths it lives at–collection usually takes place at 300 to 450ft, but they have been observed at depths greater than 2,500ft thanks [...]
A week from today, the two Roa excelsa or Brown Barred butterflies touched down in Japan at Mr. Koji Wada’s Blue Harbor store. These were the first ever Roa excelsa to be collected, a significant feat considering many groups consider the ocean has been “already explored”. With this shipment to Blue Harbor came an incredible line [...]
For years divers and ichthyologists have been seeking the Hawaiian endemic, Orange Margin Butterflyfish known as Prognathodes basabei. This fish was first seen and collected in May of 1998 when Pyle collected three specimens on two different dives in Hawaii. Since then the illusive fish has been difficult to spot, despite frequent 400ft+ dives in [...]
The above below was provided to my by Mr. Koji Wada, showing a beautiful aquarium in Japan dominated by Rhizotruchus, Dendrophylia, and Balanophyllia corals. These corals are legal in Japan, but illegal to export. Note, that not all beautiful flabellids are from Japan–however certain species like Rhizotrochus typus are not permitted by CITES making them illegal [...]
