• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Rare Handfish Seen For First Time In 25 Years Off Coast Of Tasmania

August 28, 2023 by Deborah Bloomfield

Some species are so widespread and common that you could be fortunate enough to spot a magpie or even an ant nearly every day. On the flipside, some species are much harder to find, and those in the deep sea can be so rare, they only make an appearance once every few years. Now, scientists on a research vessel near Tasmania have observed a handfish, the first specimen to be seen in 25 years.

The CSIRO-led South-East Australia Marine Ecosystem Survey (SEA-MES) research vessel (RV) Investigator was on a survey to determine how the climate is affecting marine parks and fisheries. It has a deep tow camera system that found the handfish at 292 meters (958 feet) deep off the northeast of Flinders Island in Tasmania in July. 

Advertisement

The narrowbody handfish (Pezichthys compressus) was first discovered in 1986 and hasn’t been seen in the wild since 1996. However, scientists aren’t entirely sure which species they spotted from the RV.

“We suspect it’s a narrowbody handfish […] This is as close as we can get without seeing others or collecting a sample fish,” research technician Carlie Devine said in a statement. “We can’t be 100 percent sure which handfish species it is.”

The handfish the team observed was much bigger than the two specimens on record in the Australian National Fish Collection and was also observed around 100 kilometers (621 miles) away from where the known location of the last species was seen.

Orangey pick handfish specimen wit black fins on a white background

A previously discovered handfish specimen showing those unusual fins.

Image Courtesy of CSIRO

“I was pretty excited to find the handfish. I know that this is a rare and special fish. And that the chances of seeing one in this environment and capturing it on the deep tow camera are very rare. It’s an important discovery,” said Dr Candice Untiedt, a marine ecologist who was aboard the RV and identified the handfish.

Advertisement

Handfish are unusual for more than their camera-shy personalities, these fish move by “walking” along the seafloor on their fins. There are 14 known species of handfish with seven that live around Tasmania and the Bass Strait, including the spotted handfish that managed to scoop first prize at Ocean Art 2022.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Paris ramps up security as jihadist attacks trial starts
  2. Cricket-‘Western bloc’ has let Pakistan down, board chief says
  3. Analysis-Diverse boards to pick the next Boston and Dallas Fed bank chiefs
  4. Ancient Bison Found In Permafrost Is So Well Preserved Scientists Want To Clone It

Source Link: Rare Handfish Seen For First Time In 25 Years Off Coast Of Tasmania

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • A Spinning Island Lake In Argentina Looms Out Of The Swamps Like An Eyeball
  • Mammals Have Evolved Into Ant Eaters 12 Times Since The Dinosaurs Went Extinct
  • Thieving Pulsar Spinning 592 Times A Second Reveals New Understanding Of Where Its X-Rays Come From
  • The Rise And Fall (And Lamentable Rise) Of The “Alpha Male” Myth
  • IFLScience The Big Questions: How Do Black Holes Shape The Universe?
  • North America’s Smallest Turtle Is The Cutest Thing You’ll Find In A Bog
  • “Unambiguous Signal” To Curb Emissions Now: Long-Lost Aerial Photos Reveal Evolution Of Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapse
  • 8 Children Have Been Born With 3 Biological Parents Each After Mitochondrial Transfer
  • First Known Observations Of Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry In Special Particle Decay
  • In 1973, NASA Sent Two Spiders Into Space To See If They Can Spin Webs – And They Learnt A Lot
  • Meet The Many Species Of Freaky Looking “Assassin Spiders” That Only Eat Other Spiders
  • Your Dog’s TV Preferences Might Reveal Their Personality
  • Some Human Gut Bacteria Can Absorb Harmful Toxic “Forever Chemicals” So They Can Be Pooped Out
  • You Could Float Through 10 Countries Before The World’s Most International River Spat You Out
  • Enormous Coronal Hole And Beast-Like Crawling Prominences Dazzle On The Active Sun
  • Dramatic Drone Footage Of Iceland’s Latest Volcanic Eruption Shows An Epic Scene From Hell
  • A Shrimp That Lives In A Tree? Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountains Are Home To Some Seriously Strange Wildlife
  • Is NASA’s Claim That Saturn Could Float On Water Really True?
  • Pangea Proxima: This Is What Planet Earth May Look Like 250 Million Years In The Future
  • The Story Of Dogxim, The Fox-Dog Hybrid That Shouldn’t Have Existed
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version