Recent News
Sound swim raises $6,000Monday, May 05, 2014
Last year’s Round-the-Sound Swim — believed to be one of the largest open swim events in the world — has raised $6,000.
Round-the-Sound Raises $6000 For Charity
Monday, May 05, 2014
The Annual Round-the-Sound Charity Swim blends incredible natural beauty with the opportunity to raise funds for local charities.
Students raise $1,000 for shark project
Thursday, May 01, 2014
A group of young students who collected more than $1,000 for shark research will name the next animals tagged by the Bermuda Shark Project.
BZS’s mission to protect Bermuda’s reefs
Thursday, May 01, 2014
Protecting Bermuda’s marine environment has long been a priority for the Bermuda Zoological Society. Last year, with the support of Hiscox, they launched Reef Watch, an event where members of the community were invited to become Citizen Scientists and participate in an Island-wide effort to help monitor the health of Bermuda’s reef systems.
Catlin Marine Grant to help fund environmental projects
Friday, April 25, 2014
Three local environmental projects will be partially funded by the newly-launched Catlin Marine Grant.
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Latest News
All the latest updates and news from the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo, one of Bermuda's leading visitor attractions!
By Owain Johnston-Barnes
Published Dec. 3, 2013 at 8:00 am (Updated Dec. 2, 2013 at 10:33 pm)
The yellowfin chromis, one of two species recently recognised
as being endemic to Bermuda by the Smithsonian Institution.
A pair of Bermuda fish species have been recognised by the Smithsonian Institution as being unique to Bermuda’s waters.
The yellowfin chromis and the Collette’s halfbeak have been classified as endemic to Bermuda in an update to the authoritative 1999 Fishes of Bermuda publication. Both species have been known in Bermuda’s waters for some time but were only recently determined to be endemic.
Report writers William Smith-Vaniz and Bruce Collette also identified differences between the endemic Bermuda creole wrasse and its Caribbean relatives, suggesting they may also prove to be endemic.
“We recently became aware of two colour photographs, one of a school and the other of a single individual ... of wrasses from Bermuda (Lucas 2012) identified as clepticus parrae,” the researchers wrote.
The Collette’s halfbeak, one of two species recently recognised as being endemic
to Bermuda by the Smithsonian Institution. ((Photo credit to Heidi M. Banford))
“Terminal phase adults are distinctive in having very elongate outer caudal-fin rays, mostly solid blue body and fins and a bright yellow snout. We predict that subsequent research will show these fish to be another Bermuda endemic. All records of clepticus parrae from Bermuda apparently are based on misidentification of this undescribed clepticus.”
They noted the terminal male yellowhead wrasse, called “Redbacks” locally, have different colouration than its counterparts elsewhere in the region.
The Smithsonian also listed several species not previously known to reside in Bermuda, such as the whitenose pipefish, the roughtail stingray, a deepwater opah and blackear wrasse.
A Bermuda Zoological Society spokeswoman said: “In all, 24 new records were listed, and five older records have been discounted as errors, reminding us that we still have much to discover about life on our reefs and that diligent citizen scientists, fishermen and naturalists all have key roles to play.”
The research paper is available at the Natural History Museum Library at the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo.