iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I’m not!!!!! I’m disappearing after this

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Thank you fellow butterfly lover ❤️

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The endemic and very handsome Charaxes madensis!

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The beautiful and eponymous Delias buruana!

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Delias eschatia. First live shots too!

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Delias schmassmanii, a common species but one that was not previously known from live images. These are the first living photos of it (as far as I’m aware)!

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Delias rothschildi, a lovely species that looks like and flies in the same habitat as Delias apatela.

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The wonderful Delias apatela, endemic to Buru and only in mountains above 1,200 m in elevation.

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

First live photographs of what appears to be a new Hypochrysops taxon from the apollo species complex! Not previously recorded from the Maluku Islands, and not a known species/subspecies of anything from the region.

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Troides prattorum - the Buru Opalescent Birdwing

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Had an amazing 8 days on the island of Buru in the Maluku Archipelago! Here are some notable pictures.

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Reposted by Kai The Fish Guy

Ed Stanley @drscanley.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Another long-time project is out now! I scanned these specimens for @sdbnorcal.bsky.social during my Postdoc @calacademy.bsky.social! Stan & @kaithefishguy.bsky.social led this description of a new deepwater species of Butterflyfish from Mozambique. doi.org/10.1643/i202...

A CT rendering of a new species of deepwater butterfly fish.

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Reposted by Kai The Fish Guy

FishEvo Zuzana Musilova @fishevo.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

An amazing talk on mesophotic fish given by @kaithefishguy.bsky.social 😱 at #IPFC12 in Taiwan. So many new records for Australia from the deep(er) sea😍

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Pseudojuloides edwardi Quite possibly the most beautiful wrasse in existence

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Black background fish photography are MY NACHOS.

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Blimey! Now THIS is a great goby! Oxymetopon cyanoctenosum, the Blue-banded Ribbongoby.

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Yes I use all my annual leave every year to risk it all for pictures of literal INSECTS. And I love it!

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Trogonoptera brookiana, Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing. Malaysia’s national butterfly is quite a thing of beauty. Its black wings with emerald green feather-like markings, bright red head, and blue wing accents isn’t even its most remarkable feature. It’s probably the fact that it measures close to 15 cm

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Im posting dome dank sci comm memes on my insta story! Available only for 24 hours. Go there and see!!

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Do that too! Honestly I’d love to have you here!

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Awww Brooke! Thank you 🥰🥰❤️

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

PhD opportunity: I am looking for a PhD student to study taxonomy and systematics of labrid fishes and other coral reef taxa. Successful applicants will be jointly based at the University of Sydney and the Australian Museum Research Institute.

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

The two specimens I have on loan here, including one paratype, are invaluable pieces of natural history.

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

This is one of the most exciting loans I’ve ever unpacked. There are only seven specimens of Prognathodes guyotensis known from collections worldwide; three specimens in the type series, all from the Kyushu-Palau Ridge, and a further four from scattered localities across the Indo-Pacific.

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Wow this post is riddled with typos. Fortunate enough* to encounter.. Not* one but two..

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Last weekend I was fortunate to encounter two female Yellow Jewel butterflies (Hypochrysops byzos) along a creek line about 45 minutes from Canberra. This is a very elusive and one of the more difficult of the Australian Jewels to find, so finding bro one but two was an extra special treat.

A small bright yellow butterfly with red spots and stripes outlined with metallic blue scales.

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

DAMNNNN I LOVE THAT!!! THATS one of my favorite photos I’ve taken too! Thank you for showing me!

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Ethan? If so, I don’t think so :(

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Watching The Boys and there’s a fish I named in one of the scenes! Cirrhilabrus cyanogularis, the Blue-throat Fairy Wrasse. I described this species in 2018!

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Merry Christmas Wrasses! Clockwise from top left: Halichoeres cosmetus; H. ornatissimus; H. melanurus; H. claudia

4 green and red wrasses with similar stripe patterns.

Clockwise from top left: Halichoeres cosmetus; H. ornatissimus; H. melanurus; H. claudia

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

If getting cooked in the mountains til 6.30 pm and getting home by 8.30 pm is your thing then this insect is for you! ❤️

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

Hypochrysops delicia, the Moonlight Jewel I’ve spent many unsuccessful summers over the last few years trying to find this species around the Sydney area. Turns out they’re around, but only at the top of the tallest peaks, in the furthest corner of the Blue Mountains, and only appear after 4 pm.

A small grey butterfly with brilliant red spots and bands outlined in metallic blue.

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Cirrhilabrus hygroxerus, the Monsoon Fairy Wrasse Two in two days! I’m feeling generous. Ok I’m gonna speed run this one. Hygro = wet Xeros = dry Wet + dry = monsoon = weather profile of Darwin = type location of this species

A small species of fairy wrasse (a type of fish) with bright red pendulous pelvic fins. The body is bicolored - black above, silver below. The head is chestnut orange and the tail is scintillating blue.

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

That title is reserved for Cirrhilabrus roseafascia, with the deepest record we have occurring at 155 m!

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

The species name “bathyphilus” literally translates to “love of the deep”, in reference to its preference for deep reefs. Ironically, while it does live in fairly deep coral reefs (up to 90 m), it does not hold the record for the deepest dwelling fairy wrasse.

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Cirrhilabrus bathyphilus, the “Deepwater Wrasse” This is a really beautiful species native to northeast Australia, New Caledonia, and southern Vanuatu. It belongs to a small lineage of very distinctive fairy wrasses with only two other species.

A small species of fairy wrasse with a bright red and yellow body and magenta fins. This is a species native to the eastern coast of Australia, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu.

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

How’s this for a STUNNER! Cirrhilabrus cyanogularis, the Blue-throat Fairy Wrasse! I described this species in 2018. One of the most beautiful fairy wrasses. This one is native to only a small part of the Coral Triangle, namely southern Philippines and northeast Borneo.

An orange and red fish with a brilliant navy blue throat, lending to its common name; the blue-throat fairy wrasse

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Kai The Fish Guy @kaithefishguy.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

I had a lot of fun naming both of these species, picking Roman mythological figures with relationships that are close to each other, reflecting the same close relationships of both species in life.

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