Quantcast
ZME Science
  • CoronavirusNEW
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
Home Science Biology

Crawling, not swimming fish discovered

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
March 19, 2013
in Biology, Environmental Issues, Home science, Oceanography
Get more science news like this...

Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40,000 subscribers can't be wrong.

   

fishA University of Washington fish expert claims to have discovered a whole new species of fish, that would rather crawl into crevices than swim, and that may be able to see in the same way that humans do. Well this is certainly something unexpected, and there is no species that does the same kind of thing, and there were no reasons to believe that such a fish would exist. Something’s definitely fishy here.

The creature was sighted in Indonesian waters just off Ambon Island. Although it has tan- and peach-colored zebra-striping, and rippling folds of skin that obscure its fins, it’s quite soft and slippery enough to slide through the tight crevices of coral reefs. This is probably why they are so elusive and haven’t been spotted.

The individuals are undoubtedly anglerfishes, says Ted Pietsch, a UW professor of aquatic and fishery sciences who has published 150 scholarly articles and several books on anglerfishes and is the world’s leading authority on them. A new species of fish may seem like not such a big deal, but the thing is that in the past half century scientists have found just 5 new species, so finding a new one, especially one as surprising as this one has its importance.

“Several times I saw these fish work themselves through an opening that seemed much smaller than the fish, sometimes taking a minute or more to get all the way through,” says David Hall, an underwater natural history photographer who was able to dive with Maluku Divers and take additional photos of the new find. “They must have pretty tough skin to keep from being scraped and cut, but there is no evidence of superficial injury or scars in my photographs.”

Tags: fishfish discoveryfish expert
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Andrei's background is in geophysics, and he's been fascinated by it ever since he was a child. Feeling that there is a gap between scientists and the general audience, he started ZME Science -- and the results are what you see today.

Follow ZME on social media

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
  • More

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.