The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) last week said that a rare pink handfish had been spotted for the first time in 22 years.
A very rare walking fish has been spotted for the first time in 22 years! Was that on your 2021 bingo card? 🐟
We’ve confirmed that the endangered pink handfish has been seen in a marine park off Tasmania’s south-west coast. https://t.co/nYFRsxk7Lf
— CSIRO (@CSIRO) December 23, 2021
Let’s take a look at what happened, what we know about the fish, where it gets its name and why this is a big deal:
What happened?
As per BBC, in February, Australian researchers dropped a baited camera on the seabed of the Tasman Fracture Marine Park – known for having a long crack in the earth's crust that has allowed marine life to be found in depths of over 4,000 metres – to survey the coral and fish.
Okay, so that’s when they saw it?
Not quite. The fish was spotted in October when a research assistant was going through the footage.
"I was watching one of our rough videos and there was a little fish that popped up on this reef ledge that looked a bit odd," said Ashlee Bastiaansen from the university's Institute of Antarctic and Marine Studies, a per BBC.
Why is it called a handfish?
This comes from the little hand like structure that it uses to walk on the sea bed.
Why this is a big deal
As per ABC, the pink handfish has only been spotted in the wild a grand total of five times. That’s incredibly rare. So much so that scientists recently classified it as endangered.
A member of the anglerfish family, this pink handfish was last seen by a recreational diver off the coast of the Tasman Peninsula, south-east of Hobart, in 1999, as per the report.
What do we know about it?
Sadly, not much. The fish is thought to live in waters between 15 metres to almost 40 metres deep off Tasmania's east coast — an assumption that has since been overturned.
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