Rainbow Fish That’s Never Been Recorded Is Identified In Ocean’s ‘Twilight Zone’
Image via Yi-Kai Tea / California Academy of Sciences
As the adage goes, beautiful things don’t ask for attention. Scientists have been aware of this spectacular, multicolored fish wading around in the Maldives since the 1990s, but they thought it was from another known species and let it go. So until now, the species had remained undiscovered.
Now, the finned rainbow finally has a name: the rose-veiled fairy wrasse, or Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa, with “finifenmaa” being the word for rose in the Dhivehi language of the Maldives. It got its moniker from its similar hue to the pink rose, the national flower of Maldives, although adult male rose-veiled fairy wrasses are also saturated in vivid peach and orangy pink.
Image via Yi-Kai Tea / California Academy of Sciences
The fish lurks 160 to 500 feet underwater in a largely unexplored place known as the “twilight zone” reefs. “It speaks to how much biodiversity there is still left to be described from coral-reef ecosystems,” notes Luiz Rocha of the California Academy of Sciences.
Scientists had previously confused the fish for the Cirrhilabrus rubrisquamis, or the red velvet fairy wrasse. Now, a new paper in the ZooKeys scientific journal finally recognizes this “multicolored marvel” as a new-to-science species, detailing its distinct size, color, and scales.
The rose-veiled fairy wrasse also happens to be the first fish species to be identified by a Maldivian scientist.
“It has always been foreign scientists who have described species found in the Maldives without much involvement from local scientists, even those that are endemic to the Maldives,” comments Ahmed Najeeb, one of the study’s co-authors. “This time it is different and getting to be part of something for the first time has been really exciting, especially having the opportunity to work alongside top ichthyologists on such an elegant and beautiful species.”
[via CNN and CNET, images via Yi-Kai Tea / California Academy of Sciences]
