Creature in Indonesia crawls on its pectoral fins
A newly discovered pink-and-tan psychedelically striped fish with a flat face, frowning mouth and arm-like fins could be part of a formerly unknown family of vertebrates.
It's unlike anything weird-fish expert and University of Washington ichthyologist Ted Pietsch has ever seen.
"I'm still thrilled. It's an incredible thing. It's remarkable," said Pietsch, who specializes in anglerfish or frogfish, strange swimmers who grow their own lures to catch prey.
The newly found 4-inch fish lives in Indonesian coral beds, crawling in and out of crevices on its bent pectoral fins. It was spotted by the owners of a commercial dive company who kept mum on their discovery to protect it until they found additional fish.
The couple, Buck and Fitrie Randolph, are part-owners of Maluku Divers along with Andy Shorten. The Randolphs spotted the fish in January on Indonesia's Ambon Island. In March, they saw juvenile fish. This week a female was seen protecting an egg mass of about 20 to 30 young.
"What you usually see is variations of a fish you've seen before," said Shorten, who was reached in Indonesia. "We've never seen a fish with remotely this kind of face."
Shorten, who said he's done about 2,000 dives, said they e-mailed photos to authors of leading fish identification books.
"They all said, 'We've never seen that before,' " Shorten said. Eventually the divers were referred to Pietsch.
A world expert in anglerfish, Pietsch is certain that the new fish is related to frogfish because of its characteristic armlike fins and the sheath that held the eggs. Mother anglers typically wrap their bodies around the eggs to protect them from predators.
But the fish -- which Pietsch plans to name the Maluku frogfish -- is different from other anglers in remarkable ways. It lacks a lure, has tiny pelvic fins and -- most remarkably -- has a flat face with forward facing eyes. Most fish have eyes on the sides of their head and very few have them located close enough that their range of vision overlaps. These fish could have humanlike binocular vision giving them better depth perception.
That sort of vision in fish "is extremely rare," Pietsch said. "It must feed in a completely different way from other anglerfishes."
The fish have thick, flabby skin and crawl under rocks and into coral, probably on the hunt for small fish and shrimp. Despite the sharp coral edges, the creatures don't appear scratched in anyway, making Pietsch bet they're covered in a protective mucus.
A newly discovered pink-and-tan psychedelically striped frogfish with a flat face, frowning mouth and arm-like fins could be part of a formerly unknown family of vertebrates. The fish is about 4 inches long. (M. Snyder/starknakedfish.com) (April 03, 2008) | ||
The radiating, swirling pattern of stripes that adorn the Maluku frogfish make a symmetrical, mirror-image from the right to left side.
One of Pietsch's graduate students traveled to Indonesia this week and captured one of the fish so the scientists can perform DNA analysis and a closer examination to better understand how the species fits in with other anglerfish. She should return next week and Pietsch expects DNA results by mid-April. He's rushing to be the first to publish a paper on the species.
People are keeping an eye on the area where the fish were found and where the mother is guarding her eggs, Pietsch said. He's somewhat concerned about the threat from unscrupulous collectors seeking the frogfish for the aquarium trade. Shorten said the island is pretty remote, and Maluku Divers is the only commercial dive operation, so they have an idea of who's out in the water.
They all hope the rare fish survives its new fame.
"This is quite amazing," Pietsch said. "I'm nearly certain it represents a new family of vertebrates, and we don't find a new family of vertebrates very often at all."
Source:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/photos/photo.asp?PhotoID=181333
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