Look at all these Cool Fish

7 amazing new fish species discovered in 2017 

By Amy McDermott

If you think 2017 was a garbage fire, we can’t stop you. But the world wasn’t the only thing in flames. You know what else was on fire this year? Fish discovery.

Last year, we brought you six of our favorite fish discovered in 2016. This year, we’re upping the ante. Meet seven of our newly-minted favorites, discovered in 2017…

I saw this fungus everywhere last summer and never did figure out exactly what it was. Similar to Ascocoryne sp. but not quite so jelly-like.

The Blue Leg Centipede (Ethmostigmus trigonopodus) has the blues!

Ahhhhh! You can always rely on centipede legs for something special. Red legs, purple legs, yellow legs, stripy legs and now, in this east African species, blue legs.

The search is finally over.

Evan’s Sea Spider (Anoplodactylus evansi) has the blues!

This is rickety, wobbly-kneed beast is the scourge of east Australia’s sea slugs.

The sea slugs try to defend themselves. They eat corals, sponges and bryozoans, they take over the poisons and stinging cells, incorporating them into their tissues for use against their own predators.

But it doesn’t work. Not against Evan’s Sea Spider. It may only be a couple centimetres long, but this sea spider has guts of steel. And, of course, it’s a sea spider so its body is so tiny that half of those guts are in its legs.

Also there’s a whole lot of blue on those legs! They’re very important legs.

Mimic Octopus

This sea creature can mimic the behaviors and various shapes of different animals it sees. They are highly intelligent and use their ability to camouflage and avoid predators. It is so intelligent that it will actually mimic a sea creature that its predators is afraid of. For example, scientists observed that when the octopus was attacked by territorial damselfishes, it mimicked the banded sea snake, a known predator of damselfishes.

It can mimic sea creatures like the sole fish, lion fish, sea snakes, frog fish and more.

Using cells known as chromatophores, the Giant Cuttlefish can put on spectacular displays, changing colour in an instant. By raising parts of its skin, it can also change shape and texture to imitate rock, sand or seaweed. These displays have various interpretations to other marine creatures and may be used for camouflage, mating or even hypnotising prey.

Cuttlebones from inside cuttlefishes are commonly washed up onto beaches. These are not actually bones but are made from calcium carbonate and help control buoyancy. The Giant Cuttlefish, which grows to almost 1 m (including its 10 tentacles), has a cuttlebone of about 60 cm. As cuttlefishes are a preferred food for dolphins, seals and sharks, teeth marks can sometimes be seen in the cuttlebones.

So flashy! This small but feisty flamboyant cuttlefish is unlike the rest, walking along the seafloor on arms and fins–and standing its ground when threatened. Flashing its hypnotic color scheme and pulsing its fins, this little cuttlefish can scare away the hungriest of predators. Learn more about this master camouflager