Luiz Rocha, PhD
@CoralReefFish
Curator of Fishes at @CalAcademy and @Rolex Laureate inspiring protection of the oceans through science, photography, exploration, and storytelling.
For a long time people assumed that #mesophotic ecosystems were untouched refuges for shallow coral reef fauna. Our new paper in @sciencemagazine today shows that this is not the case! Deep reefs are unique and threatened! science.sciencemag.org/content/361/63…
New #NastyGoby alert!
#NewSpeciesAlert - 𝑆𝑡𝑖𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑑𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑦𝑎𝑒, a new species of amphidromous goby is described from Enggano Island, Indonesia. This species was previously imported into the hobby as 𝑆𝑡𝑖𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑑𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑝. 'pink'. #TeamGoby 🔓 (direct PDF) - taprobanica.org/~file/~blog/20…
New paper out in Proceedings B @royalsociety by our team and Brazilian collaborators! Mid-Atlantic islands act as natural evolutionary incubators and highlight how rare dispersal across soft barriers can spark speciation. DM me if you want the PDF! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rs…
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists & Herpetologists 2025! Post about the meeting using the official hashtag #JMIH25!
This Candy Basslet (Liopropoma carmabi)—which I photographed her in the Steinhart Aquarium’s Twilight Zone exhibit—is a vivid reminder of the hidden beauty thriving in mesophotic reefs. Rarely seen, but impossible to forget. 🌊🔦 #TwilightZoneExhibit #HiddenDepths
The Black-lined Sleeper Goby (Valenciennea helsdingenii) is common on sheltered reefs and estuaries throughout the Indo-Pacific. They are usually seen in pairs of small groups, and I was lucky to photographed these two here perfectly lined up! #ichthyology #NastyGoby #Indonesia
We need more professional herpetologists to meet with students for the Speed Networking event at #JMIH25! Members, you should have received an e-mail about this, please reach out to Rocky Parker if you would like to volunteer.
Characterizing the trophic ecology of herbivorous coral reef fishes using stable isotope and fatty acid biomarkers journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…
Libgen, Sci-Hub, and Z-library had millions of pirated academic books and papers. So, they were shut down. We shouldn't use them anyway. We should help billion-dollar academic publishers get richer. Anyway, here's how to access these libraries: Don't do this!
If you don't have your #JMIH25 hotel yet, the Hotel InterContinental deadline has been extended until next Wednesday, June 25. Both king and 2 queen room options are available and it is only a short walk along the river to the RiverCentre. Book here: ihg.com/intercontinent…
If you have not yet booked your hotel room for #JMIH25 in St. Paul, room blocks are expiring soon! Please consider booking at the Intercontinental as we are short of meeting our minimum number for this site. They have extended the deadline by another week! burkclients.com/JMIH/meetings/…
Our new paper reporting several new records of deep reef fishes at Australia's Coral Sea is out in Coral Reefs! Great team effort led by @fishguykai and including records made both by diving and ROVs. link.springer.com/article/10.100…
The Gilded Triggerfish (Xanthichthys auromarginatus) is a common and widely distributed fish. But because it prefers deeper waters (usually below 40m) in places with a lot of current, it's rarely seen. I photographed this beautiful male in the Maldives at about 70m depth.
Today, we celebrate the vast blue heart of our planet—the oceans. Be mindful, be curious, and be bold in your efforts to protect them. Here’s to the beauty, power, and mystery of the oceans. 🌍💙 #WorldOceansDay #ProtectOurBluePlanet #OceanLove
These spawning hamlets that I photographed in Belize are a perfect reminder of the ocean's rhythms and resilience. This #WorldOceanWeek, let’s celebrate and protect the underwater wonders that sustain our planet. Every fish, every reef, every ripple matters. 🌍🌱
The UN Ocean Conference is a week away! #UNOC3 We’re headed to France to join in-person & virtual events on: 🐟 Sustainable blue foods 🌊 Women in ocean science 🎣 Small-scale fisheries ...& more! Will you be there? Let us know in the comments 👋 ⤵️ oceansolutions.stanford.edu/stanford-2025-…
Kicking off World Ocean Week with one of the ocean’s most colorful powerhouses — the mantis shrimp! 🌊🦐💥 Let’s protect their home and all the magic beneath the waves. 💙 #WorldOceanWeek #MantisShrimp #ProtectOurOceans #OceanMagic
The Bicolor Basslet (Lipogramma klayi) is a Caribbean deep-reef basslet. I photographed this one at 90m depth off Roatán at its natural #mesophotic habitat. This species is very rarely seen, but common at depths between 80 and 110m. #Honduras #DeepReefBiodiversity
🌊🌿 Happy International #BiodiversityDay2025! 🌿🌊 Symbiotic relationships are everywhere; these partnerships keep ecosystems balanced, species thriving, and life interconnected in ways we’re still discovering. And that teaches us a powerful lesson: we are better together!
🌍 Coris atlantica is a beautiful wrasse common in oceanic islands of the tropical eastern Atlantic. Males often spread their fins and show off their colors to intimidate rivals and attract females. #ichthyology #biodiversity #SaoTome
1/12 🚨🚨🚨 New paper in @ScienceMagazine @ScienceAdvances! We demonstrate the hidden, recent origins of reef fish diversity in the Miocene by leveraging genome-wide data to reveal the evolutionary history of wrasses, parrotfishes, and relatives! #science science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
Happy Cinco de Mayo! Wishing everyone a day full of vibrant colors and Mexican Caribbean vibes — just like this magnificent Queen Angelfish (Holacanthus ciliaris) that I photographed a couple of years ago in Cancún! 🌊🎉🇲🇽 #CincoDeMayo #Cancun #Explore
