Remember the strange fish discovered by divers off the Indonesian coast in January 2008? This fish has now been scientifically described and given the official name Histiophryne psychedelica. Well, what else would you call a fish that that looks like this and moves like it was permanently and irrevocably under the influence?
Histiophryne psychedelica, also known as the Psychedelic frogfish, was scientifically described by Ted Pietsch[1] and Rachel Arnold[2] of the University of Washington, together with wildlife photographer David Hall[3].
The University of Washington has released videos where you can see the Psychedelic frogfish swim, or rather hop, skip and jump, over a coral reef. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=47496
Each time the fish strikes the reef, it uses its fins to push off while simultaneously expelling water from tiny gill openings on the sides of the body to aid in propulsion. The fish is well suited for life on the reef and has for instance been blessed with protective thick folds of skin that keeps its gelatinous body out of harms way among the sharp-edged corals. Just as on the other members of the frogfish group, the fins on both sides of the body have evolved into elongated protrusions more similar to legs than fins. Histiophryne psychedelica does however distinguish itself from other frogfish species by having a flat face with eyes facing forward.
Frogfishes are a type of angelfish, but unlike most other anglers Histiophryne psychedelica does not have any lures on its forehead to tempt its prey with. It also seems to keep its vibrant colours in all sorts of environments, unlike most other anglers who prefer to adapt every inch of their body (except for the lures) to the surroundings in order to stay undetected by prey. According to Hall, the psychedelic colouration might be a way for the fish to mimic corals.
When a Psychedelic frogfish is killed and preserved in ethanol, it looses its lively colours and patterns within a few days and takes on a dull white appearance. This made Pietsch curious about two specimens sent to him in 1992 and he decided to take a closer look at them in a microscope. In the newly caught specimen, the distinctive striping of the fish could still be seen through a microscope and this prompted Pietsch to re-examine the two preserved ones in search of patterns. As it turned out, these two fishes had the same characteristic striping as Histiophryne psychedelica – Pietsch had been storing two specimens of the psychedelic fish for 17 years without realizing it.
If you wish to learn more about this mesmerizing fish, check out the paper Theodore W Pietsch, Rachel J. Arnold and David J. Hall. “A Bizarre New Species of Frogfish of the Genus Histiophryne (Lophiiformes: Antennariidae) from Ambon and Bali, Indonesia.” Copeia[4], February 2009. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Lophiiformes
Family: Antennariidae
Genus: Histiophryne
New species: Histiophryne psychedelica
[1] Dr Ted Pietsch, University of Washington (UW) professor of aquatic and fishery sciences and curator of fishes at the UW Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
[2] Rachel Arnold, University of Washington master’s student in aquatic and fishery sciences
[3] David Hall, wildlife photographer and owner of Seaphotos.com
[4] Copeia, the official publication of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, can be found on www.asih.org.
According to an article in Underwatertimes.com, a strange fish found off the Indonesian coast might represent a family of vertebrate unknown to science. The fish was sighted off the Indonesian Ambon Island and is a type of anglerfish. Finding a new vertebrate family in the ocean is really special, because during the last half century no more than five new families of fishes have been scientifically described. The unusual anglerfish was found and photographed on Jan 28 2008 by Buck and Fitrie Randolph and their dive guide Toby Fadirsyair. Since then, a few more specimens have been sighted in the same waters.
One of the reasons why the fish has managed to remain undetected until now might be its habit of crawling into crevices rather than parading itself in front of divers. The fish is tan to peach coloured and decorated with an intricate zebra pattern. The fish has rippling folds of skin which makes the fins hard to distinguish from the main body. Unlike most other anglerfishes known to man, this new found creature has no lure on its head and must therefore employ a different tactic in order to get its lunch. It will squeeze itself into narrow cracks in coral reefs and search for food inside. Before anyone can know for sure if this fish really represents an entirely new family of vertebrate, DNA testing must be carried out and a specimen must be more closely examined.
If you want to learn more about this intriguing fish, read the full article at Underwatertimes.com http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=64951030827
You can also visit Buck and Fitrie Randolph’s webpage where they have posted images of their discovery: http://www.divingmaluku.com/new-frogfish.html