Tag: handfish

todropscience:

A team of divers and the citizen science project Reef Life Survey have discovered a new population of what is believed to be the world’s rarest fish.
The Red Handfish (Thymichthys politus), is a small and critically endangered bonyfish, only found off south east Tasmania, and until last week only one remaining population of around 20-40 individuals had been identified.
The new site, which is secret in order to protect the new population, contains an estimated of 20-40 individuals, and is few kilometres away from the previously known population in Frederick Henry Bay.
Each site covers just 50 metres by 20 metres – about the size of two tennis courts – as the range of the handfish is limited by the fact it walks on the seafloor instead of swimming.

●GIF: IMAS – Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Extremely Rare (and Peculiar) Fish Found Off Coast of Tasmania

eartharchives:

The red handfish is a funny little critter that uses its fins to scuttle along the rocky seafloor.
Dwelling exclusively in the waters off
Tasmania, it is also one of the rarest fish in the world. So researchers
were excited to find an entirely new population of red handfish hiding
amidst Tasmania’s reefs.

Extremely Rare (and Peculiar) Fish Found Off Coast of Tasmania