Aspen Pflughoeft
Wed, June 21, 2023 at 2:04 PM MDT·2 min read
Chugging along the ocean’s surface off the coast of Brazil, scientists trawled the watery depths, searching. They hauled in the net and found a horned creature caught in it. Looking closer, they realized they’d captured a new species.
Researchers spent a month trawling the northeastern coast of Brazil for fish and invertebrates, according to a study published May 19 in the journal Ichthyology and Herpetology.
Toward the end of the survey, researchers pulled in the net and spotted a dark-colored fish, the study said. They identified the creature as a new species of dragonfish: Melanostomias dio.
Dragonfish are a type of deep-sea fish known for being “cunning predators,” according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. They lie in wait — sometimes attracting prey with a “luminescent lure” on their chin — then ambush their prey.
Melanostomias dio, or the horns-up dragonfish, has a dark black body with polka dots down its side, researchers said. The fish measured about 7 inches long and had a skinny body.
Photos show the horns-up dragonfish curled up, its mouth wide open. The animal’s mouth is filled with sharp teeth.
The horns-up dragonfish with its mouth wide open.
A close-up photo of the horns-up dragonfish’s teeth.
The dragonfish’s chin barbel had a “unique” shape, the study said. The barbel extended below the fish on a thin strand, ending in a “bulb” with two “horns” protruding from it. A close-up photo shows this barbel.
The shape of the dragonfish’s barbel reminded researchers of the “horns-up” hand gesture. The new species was named for the heavy metal vocalist Ronald James Padavona, or Ronnie James Dio, who “popularized the (horns-up) hand gesture” and was one of the genre’s “most influential” vocalists.
A close-up photo of the horns-up dragonfish’s chin barbel.
The new species was recognized as distinct based on the shape of its chin barbel, the study said. No other related dragonfish have the same “horns.”
The only horns-up dragonfish specimen was “a little damaged” during its capture, Bárbara Teixeira Villarins told McClatchy News. Deep-sea fish are commonly damaged when caught by trawling nets.
A drawing shows the fish’s full body shape, including its tail fins.
The new species was discovered in the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of the state of Rio Grande De Norte. This state is about 1,510 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro.
A drawing shows a full horns-up dragonfish.
Researchers noted that “more surveys” are needed to better understand dragonfish and their distribution. Like “other deep-sea fish groups,” dragonfish diversity is poorly understood because of “the scarcity of collections,” the study said.
The research team included Bárbara Teixeira Villarins, Luciano Gomes Fischer, Artem Mikhailovich Prokofiev and Michael Maia Mincarone.
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Tourist spots something strange lurking in ocean below plane — it was a rare creature
Photo by Pat Whelen on Unsplash
Moira Ritter
Wed, June 21, 2023 at 3:20 PM MDT·2 min read
Francesca Emm was recently flying over the Great Barrier Reef near Whitsunday Islands when something peculiar caught her eye.
Beneath her plane, a white spot disrupted the vivid blue of the ocean. Emm took her camera out and started recording.
She sent her video to the White Whale Research Center, and sure enough — she had caught a glimpse of an incredibly rare all-white humpback whale, according to a June 16 post by the center on Twitter.
“It was definitely swimming,” Emm told the center, another tweet said. “We were heading North East and it was heading the same direction as us!”
White whales are extremely rare, Vanessa Pirotta, a whale expert at Macquarie University, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
“There’s only a handful of white whales and people are fascinated by them, because they look different,” she told the news outlet.
One white whale is particularly famous in Australia: Migaloo.
“I’ve seen Migaloo,” Pirotta told ABC. “He’s like an iceberg underwater; there is something magnificent about seeing this wide, illuminating animal underwater.”
In 1991, an all-white whale was captured on camera in Byron Bay, according to a website dedicated to Migaloo. At the time, it was the only documented creature of its kind.
The whale was soon named Migaloo, which is the name the Australian Aboriginal community in Queensland uses for “white fella,” the site said. Over the past two decades, experts have studied Migaloo by tracking his location and testing his skin for DNA.
However, the beloved creature has not been spotted since 2020, leaving some experts concerned that he might have died, according to 9 News.
Pirotta said there isn’t enough evidence yet to determine whether the white whale in Emm’s video is Migaloo.
“It does not provide us with the amount of information we would require to identify Migaloo,” she told 9 News. “It could be him or possibly another white-ish whale as part of this east Australian humpback whale population.”
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Photo by Pat Whelen on Unsplash
Moira Ritter
Wed, June 21, 2023 at 3:20 PM MDT·2 min read
Francesca Emm was recently flying over the Great Barrier Reef near Whitsunday Islands when something peculiar caught her eye.
Beneath her plane, a white spot disrupted the vivid blue of the ocean. Emm took her camera out and started recording.
She sent her video to the White Whale Research Center, and sure enough — she had caught a glimpse of an incredibly rare all-white humpback whale, according to a June 16 post by the center on Twitter.
“It was definitely swimming,” Emm told the center, another tweet said. “We were heading North East and it was heading the same direction as us!”
White whales are extremely rare, Vanessa Pirotta, a whale expert at Macquarie University, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
“There’s only a handful of white whales and people are fascinated by them, because they look different,” she told the news outlet.
One white whale is particularly famous in Australia: Migaloo.
“I’ve seen Migaloo,” Pirotta told ABC. “He’s like an iceberg underwater; there is something magnificent about seeing this wide, illuminating animal underwater.”
In 1991, an all-white whale was captured on camera in Byron Bay, according to a website dedicated to Migaloo. At the time, it was the only documented creature of its kind.
The whale was soon named Migaloo, which is the name the Australian Aboriginal community in Queensland uses for “white fella,” the site said. Over the past two decades, experts have studied Migaloo by tracking his location and testing his skin for DNA.
However, the beloved creature has not been spotted since 2020, leaving some experts concerned that he might have died, according to 9 News.
Pirotta said there isn’t enough evidence yet to determine whether the white whale in Emm’s video is Migaloo.
“It does not provide us with the amount of information we would require to identify Migaloo,” she told 9 News. “It could be him or possibly another white-ish whale as part of this east Australian humpback whale population.”
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