RARE FISH SEEN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE WILD
Australian researchers have found what is believed to be a narrowbody handfish (Pezichthys compressus) for the first time since 1996.
Narrowbody handfish were first discovered by CSIRO in 1986, and was last seen in 1996, but just in 2009 was identified as a different species. Using ROVs, researchers recorded these small fishes at 292 metres depth, at northeast of Flinders Island in Tasmania. This species is only know from two specimens in the Australian National Fish Collection, collected from deep waters off southeastern Australia.
In life, the is uniformly pale pink, with no evidence of spots or other markings in types, is also small, reaching at least 42.4 millimeters in length. Photo by Last & Gledhill.
These weird fishes are related to the spotted handfish Brachionichthys hirsutus a critically endangered fish, only found in some parts of Tasmania. While nothing is known of the breeding ecology, or the preferred habitat of narrowbody handfish, it is likely that the prolonged trawls and dredge efforts in its habitat has impacted on the distribution and abundance of this species.
