The goal here is to present a logical dissemination of information concerning those animals of interest to marine aquarists. Not being a scientist, I've laid out this portion of my website to encompass both fishes and invertebrates in a fashion that will hopefully make it easy to find the subjects of interest.
Let me first thank Bob Fenner, John Randall, Martin A Moe Jr, Matthew Mayo, Adrian Marsden, Alfredo Carvalho Filho, Daniel Gotshall, James Fatherree, Peter Wirtz, Richard Field, David Cook, Keiichi Matsuura, Robert Patzner, Vincent Hargreaves, Daniel Geiger, Andrea & Antonella Ferrari, Leslie Leddo, Keith Hiscock, Massimo Boyer, Massoud Abadi, Mary Jane Adams, Thierry T.C. Chan, Hiroyuki Tanaka, Julian Sprung, Stephen Kempf, Hans Bersch, Shao Kwang-Tsao, Richard Harker, Charles Delbeek, Darryl Torckler, Zaid Fadul, John Clipperton, and others who have given permission to use their photos in this endeavor. They are to be commended! Please note that all photos should be considered as being copyright protected, with the photographer holding the rights to the photos. Please contact them directly if interested in using the photos. And, where there's an animal of interest not mentioned, or existing information could be amended and/or a photo is missing or a better one exists, please forward that to me (saltcorner@cs.com) and I'll include it here with due credit so all entering this site can benefit. And before I go much further, the resources at my disposal are somewhat dated when it comes to the latest taxonomy standings. If what's here needs updating, simply let me know and I'll amend it.
Throughout most of this undertaking each animal is provided with its scientific name, common name(s), size, range, natural environment, temperature range, husbandry, and where possible a photo of that individual. However, some do not have this wide range of information and may simply have their name underlined, which indicates there is a photo of that animal available by clicking on that underlined name.
Selecting or simply discussing animals by their common name is actually more difficult than what it would be if their scientific name or class designation is used. Common names seem to be constantly changing! In the late 1700's Carl von Linne developed a system to overcome this situation. The system, now called the Binomial System of Nomenclature classified each organism using a two part Latinized name - Genus and Species. Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, were added. In fact, Linne is referred to as "Linnaeus."
Genus is always capitalized and species is lower case. Both are italicized. Higher classification levels are usually capitalized, but not italicized. When a person's name follows the scientific name, it is the person who first described the organism. If the name appears in parentheses, another taxonomist has changed the genus name.
The 'Animal Library' has two main sections. Fishes comprise Section One, with general fish families being listed in an alphabetical order, i.e., Anemonefishes to Wrasses. I've also added two unrelated species that have some interest, e.g., Mollies and Cuttlefish.
To help place 'fishes' in the right aquarium environment, I've created five, broad-ranging categories. A number of asterisks (*) will appear in the 'Suitability' portion of their descriptive aspects suggesting their accommodations. These categories are:
* - The reef aquarium;
** - Better suited for the fish-only aquarium;
*** - Better left in nature;
**** - Needing an aquarium larger than 125 gallons; and,
***** - Needing their own private environment/special tankmates.
Note, because a certain animal is recommended for a reef aquarium, it doesn't mean it couldn't be placed in a fish-only or larger aquarium. However, it does mean a fish-only aquarium specimen should not be placed in a reef aquarium and those recommended for larger or private quarters should not be placed in smaller aquariums.
The 'Invertebrate Library' comprises Section Two, and is divided into six subsections. And, I should note that Coral subsections Part I and Part II have the same introductory text. Since it applies to both stony and soft corals, it is placed into both so it won't be missed if you were only viewing one of those subsections.
When you click on the arrow below it will take you to an 'Index' page having two columns. One is dedicated to fishes, the other to invertebrate. Clicking on any underlined portion of the Index will take you to that family of animals. Once there, other arrows at the bottom of the text will allow linking to other portions of the Animal Library.
Before I close, every effort should be made to purchase captive-bred fishes and invertebrate because they are already accustom to aquarium life, generally less quarrelsome, readily accept prepared aquarium-type foodstuffs, and/or in the long run, simply much hardier than wild caught stock.
I've established the groundwork and with your help 'www.saltcorner.com' could easily become one of the more educational marine websites in the world!
Enjoy,
Bob Goemans