Due to climate change and the ruthless lifestyle of people, more and more species are threatened with extinction. But now and then there is also good news from the animal kingdom. The narrow-rumped handfish (Pezichthys compressus), for example, has not been seen for decades – now there has finally been a sighting again.
Scientists have discovered a specimen off the coast of the Australian state of Tasmania. Australia’s government agency for scientific and industrial research CSIRO announced that a deep-sea camera had already taken pictures of the animal as part of a research trip in July. The marine biologist Candice Untiedt finally identified it from the recordings – in her opinion it is actually a narrow-body handfish that was moving at a depth of 292 meters.
This is a surprise because an animal of this species has not been seen for 27 years. The last sighting was in 1996, reports CSIRO. Because they live so deep on the ocean floor, the fish are extremely difficult to spot. They were not discovered until 1986. Only two specimens are documented in the Australian government fish collection. The fish have a distinctive locomotion that looks like they are walking across the sea floor on hands.
“I was pretty excited to find the handfish. I know this is a rare and special fish. And the chances of seeing one in this environment and catching one on the deep tow camera are very slim. It’s an important discovery ” enthused Candice Untiedt, who was aboard the research vessel RV Investigator. Due to the “very characteristic shape and features” she was quickly sure that it was one of the rare fish.
However, even the experts are not 100% sure – the sighted fish is larger than those previously known and appeared 100 kilometers away from its conspecifics. The scientists lack comparative material. There are 14 handfish species in total. This also includes the spotted handfish. The researchers were able to catch 20 specimens of this species during their mission and are now hoping that they will reproduce in captivity in order to increase the population of the endangered species.
Quelle: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
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