DEPUIS LA FIN DU XIXe siècle, les taxonomistes marins débattent du statut d'espèce des petits bars majestueux des Caraïbes du genre Hypoplectrus, communément appelés hameçons. Au cœur de la controverse se trouve l'essence même de la taxonomie : Qu'est-ce qui définit une espèce ?
MANY JAPANESE DIVERS LOVE UNDERSEA CREATURES, particularly the home-grown varieties living in abundance along the country’s craggy volcanic coastlines and offshore islands. They also have an infatuation for the eccentric — the stranger the better.
On our first trip to Hachijō-jima in 2015, we were in the company of friends on a mission to photograph a scientifically undocumented pygmy seahorse the size of a pumpkin seed. Even after a concerted four-day search, the tiny target eluded our efforts until a single seahorse miraculously materialized in the last minutes of the last dive on the last day.
