A Rare Pink Handfish Has Been Discovered In Australia
Update: 2021-12-29 10:45 IST
It was assumed that the pink handfish lives in shallow waters but this time it was found at the depth of 150 meters. (Source: CSIRO/Twitter)
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's national science organisation, discovered the presence of an unique pink handfish near the Tasmanian shore after 22 years. The last time it was spotted was in 1999. The name of fish came from their small hand feature that the fish uses to walk on the seabed.
Although this aquatic critter, which belongs to the anglerfish family, is rarely observed, scientists believe its survival is in jeopardy. As a result, it was placed in the endangered category. The reason to classify it as endangered was that the pink handfish has only been seen in the wild five times in total. It puts it to a very quite uncommon feature.
The pink handfish was thought to live in shallow waters, however it was discovered at a depth of 150 metres, surprising the researchers.
The Australian marine experts had used underwater camera inside the seabed of the Tasman Fracture Marine Park in February. While they glanced over their recordings later this year, they discovered the pink handfish. The Taman Crack Marine Park is recognised for a deep fragment within the earth's crust that allows scientists to examine marine life to the depths of 4,000 metres.