SEJAK akhir tahun 1800-an, perdebatan di antara para ahli taksonomi kelautan telah berputar-putar di sekitar status spesies ikan bass laut Karibia kecil yang megah dalam genus Hypoplectrus, yang umumnya dikenal sebagai dusun. Inti dari kontroversi ini adalah esensi taksonomi: Apa yang mendefinisikan suatu spesies?
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.
