A fish too deep for science
A fish too deep for science
July 17, 2015
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A fish too deep for science
Coryphopterus curasub, a new goby species from 70-80 m depth off Curacao, southern Caribbean. The maximum known length of the new species is 33 mm (1.3 inches). Credit: Carole Baldwin and Ross Robertson, Smithsonian Institution
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Drs. Carole Baldwin and Ross Robertson from the Smithsonian Institution discovered a new small goby fish that differs from its relatives not only in its size and colors, but also in the depth of its habitat (70-80 m) in the southern Caribbean. Their finding comes as a part of the institution's Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP). This is why the scientists gave it the name Coryphopterus curasub in recognition of the Curasub submersible that was used in their deep-reef exploration. Their study can be found in the open-access journal ZooKeys.
Marine biodiversity inhabiting shallow Caribbean coral reefs has been studied for more than 150 years, but much less is known about what lives at depths just below those accessible with conventional SCUBA gear. Thanks to the availability of a privately owned, manned submersible on the island of Curacao, the Curasub, scientists are now able to intensively study depths to 300 m (1,000 ft).
"This is the fourth new deep-reef fish species described in two years from Curasub diving off Curacao," explained Baldwin, "Many more new deep-reef fish species have already been discovered and await description, and even more await discovery." She also pointed out that new species of mollusks and crustaceans have also been discovered, and a "biology bonanza" is highly likely as tropical deep reefs continue to be explored.
In addition to the new goby species, the authors report on the collection of a related goby species some 50 m (164 ft.) deeper than it was previously known. Knowledge of species' upper and lower depth limits is information that Baldwin and Robertson are establishing for numerous fish species in the southern Caribbean, and in this study they tabulated and graphed depth information for the 14 known species of Coryphopterus gobies.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-07-fish-deep-science.html#jCp
