Australia: A Rare Pink Fish That Walks & Has Hands Was Spotted For The First Time In 22 Years
The fish has been spotted only four times since its discovery. It derives its name from the little hand like structure that it uses to walk on the sea bed.
A very rare pink fish that walks and has hands was spotted in Australia off the Tasmanian coast for the first time in 22 years. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the national science agency of Australia announced the news.
This rare fish was last sighted by a diver off Tasmania in 1999 and has only been seen four other times. Just because the fish is so rare, the Australian researchers had recently classified it as endangered.
Rare #fish that walks on hands, found near Tasmanian coast after more than two decades. The pink handfish has been spotted only 4 times, last seen by a diver in 1999 in #Tasmania. Marked as endangered, it's a member of the anglerfish family. #Australia #Marine #Biology #Aquatic pic.twitter.com/Bg2jsLCski
¡ª Nishit Doshi (@NishitDoshi144) December 24, 2021
Australian researchers said they had seen this rare fish with a deep-sea camera at the Tasman Fracture Marine Park. This new discovery shows the fish in deeper and more open waters than it had lived in previously. The researchers had thought the fish was a shallow-water species that lived in sheltered bays but it has now been found at a depth of 150m (390 ft) off Tasmania's wild south coast.
Ashlee Bastiaansen, a research assistant from the university's Institute of Antarctic and Marine Studies, was going through the footage in October when she spotted the pink handfish.
A very rare walking fish has been spotted for the first time in 22 years! Was that on your 2021 bingo card? ?
¡ª CSIRO (@CSIRO) December 23, 2021
We¡¯ve confirmed that the endangered pink handfish has been seen in a marine park off Tasmania¡¯s south-west coast. https://t.co/nYFRsxk7Lf
The recording showed the fish come from a ledge after being disturbed by a rock lobster. It observed its surrounding for a few seconds and then swam away.
"This is an exciting discovery and offers hope for the ongoing survival of pink handfish, as clearly they have a wider habitat and distribution than previously thought," said lead researcher and marine biologist Neville Barrett, an associate professor at the University of Tasmania told BBC.
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The species has over-sized "hands" on which they "walk" along the seabed. They can also swim. This aquatic creature is a part of the anglerfish family.
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