A new population of the world’s rarest fish, the Red Handfish (Thymichthys politus), has been found off the Tasmanian coast
The Red Handfish (Thymichthys politus) is believed to be the rarest species of fish in the entire ocean based on our knowledge of it, and up until very recently there has only been one location where this incredible fish has been found!
![redhandfish2.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1516951126/ivb1xxy7wnyobk7uyyu0.jpg)
A Red Handfish with its red morph. Image by Rick Stuart-Smith / Reef Life Survey. Posted with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0).
If you want to see a Red Handfish for yourself, you’ve got to head to the eastern coast of Tasmania, an island just south of Australia. The exact location of the population of Red Handfish is close to Frederick Henry Bay, an area that is much used by surfers. Somewhere close to this bay there is a 50x20 meter square that is the home to between 20 to 40 Red Handfish. The size is comparable to two tennis courts stacked next to each other, so it is easy to understand why we haven’t really found lots of populations.
The Red Handfish are really good-looking fish with either a dark red, or a yellow/pinkish color palette, and these are two distinct morphs of the same species. It would be very easy to assume these to be two different species if you didn't know about them, but they are in fact the same.
A new population has been found by divers from IMAS and the citizen science project Reef Life Survey (RLS)
A diver reported finding a Red Handfish a few kilometers away from the already known locations, and was met with disbelief. However, a team from Australian Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies from University of Tasmania, and citizens from the project Reef Life Survey went to investigate the area, and after two days they were on the brink of giving up. However, just before deciding to head back they found a new member of the most rare fish species in the world!
![species_8d_5a680da88aa1e.w1300.h866.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1516951168/k7gkxdvvbjkg62eit6hc.jpg)
Also a Red Handfish, but this is the yellow morph version of it. Image by Rick Stuart-Smith / Reef Life Survey. Posted with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0).
After further investigation, the team concluded that this new site is also home to 20 to 40 individuals, and is about the same size as the other location. A nice surprise was that the habitat was not what the scientists had expected it to be, meaning that the Red Handfish might not be as picky about its habitat as expected! This is great news from the perspective of finding even more populations, but it also means that it will be more difficult to find them.
The exact location of the new population has not been made public knowledge, and the group hopes that it will stay that way until the area can be legally protected in order to prevent anyone from harming the fish.
So what exactly are handfish?
The handfish (Family Brachionichthyidae) are benthic (bottom-dwelling) anglerfish that are only found in the waters close to Australia and Tasmania. What is really unique about them is that they uses their fins to walk on the ocean floor instead of swimming like most other fish do. These fins are looking a lot like the hands of us humans, which is why they got their name in the first place.
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Brachionichthys_hirsutus_RLS.jpg)
A spotted handfish (Brachionichthys hirsutus). Image by Rick Stuart-Smith / Reef Life Survey, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
Most of the handfish are threatened by things such as climate change that is heating up the ocean, and the Spotted Handfish in the image above is considered Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, which means that it will most likely face extinction somewhat soon. Another species of handfish, Ziebell's Handfish (Brachiopsilus ziebelli) also used to be a contender for the rarest fish in the world, but this species is now expected to be extinct on the basis that it has not been seen for a decade.
Could there be a lot more of these fish in the ocean?
Since we have only found one (now two) populations in the last 15 years, despite a lot of people looking for them, it’s safe to assume that they are very rare. Scientists believe that they only live in pretty shallow waters, so it is also unlikely that they around found far from the shores. However, seeing as the scientists had to spend two days searching for them even after knowing about the location that was indeed their habitat, I can only begin to wonder how many populations there actually are.
I’m not saying that this is a common fish by all means, but I am personally beginning to think that it might be a bit less rare than some people claim it is, based on the fact that it seems to be extremely difficult to actually find on the sea floor. Maybe new findings like this one will lead to it not being considered the rarest fish in the world anymore? We can hope so, because if there are only two small populations left, the future of the Red Handfish is looking very grim..
Thanks for reading
Thanks for reading about the Red Handfish! If you want to learn more about them, then I suggest checking out their profile on reeflifesurvey.com as well as their profile on Fishes of Australia. You can also see the announcement of the newly discovered population on University of Tasmania’s website. These three links should have most of the known information about this fish species, but keep in mind that it's very rare and unstudied, so we don't really know too much about it in the first place. Anyway, I hope everyone has a great Friday, and make sure to leave a comment below to join the discussion!
Hi @Valth
![fløyfisk.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmVL7wp7BtHhhnTcDcvMUUSaZSAtBg6Pi27pYfo6YCc8V6/fl%C3%B8yfisk.jpg)
These handfish looks great.
I guess you know that here in Norway we also have fish that "walk" on their front fins. I have seen this one (fløyfisk in norwegian) "walk on his front fins when I was free diving here in Fredrikstad.
Kindest regards
@Gyldenhorn
Hi @gyldenhorn :)
I'm not really familiar with this fish, because I don't generally know too much about the ecology on the coast of Norway, which is actually pretty unfortunate. So thanks for sharing! I didn't know that you were also doing photographs under water; that's pretty cool!
Great article as always. Been quite busy lately so I have to catch up on your latest articles as well :) Sea life is always an interesting topic. I'm quite amazed by the Greenland sharks:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/11/400-year-old-greenland-shark-is-the-oldest-vertebrate-animal
Also very fascinated by the ancient Megalodon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalodon
Thank you! Yeah, I agree that the life in the sea is extremely interesting. I almost regret becoming a freshwater ecologist instead of a marine biologist. I actually wrote a post about the Greenland shark a month ago, so it certainly interested me as well ;)
Best regards from @valth
For the first time i came to know that there is a rare species called red hand fish whose fins resembles to human hands. As it walk in the floor of ocean it will definitely safe from fishermen hunts. Climatic change and environmental issue, global warming, pollution are the issues created by ourself. Its the time to raise awareness and do our audit to make this world beautiful, peaceful, safe not for ourself but also for all species around us. Keep sharing @valth
Great comment, @kamchore. I agree; we really need to do something about the issues we humans have created for ourself, and sooner rather than later!
That's a good point! At least it won't get caught in nets.
Yes, a sooner attempt will control the damage.
We can see the Red Handfish (Thymichthys politus) only in the eastern coast of Tasmania? And when the new location will be public?
It's totally new species for me because I heard for the first time from your post. The fish looks cool and colorful by look. I'm shocked that this fish isn't swimming like others but walking on the ocean floor. 😮
BTW, you have written this article after proper research is really a fantastic piece and much informative for all of us who don't know it before. Keep sharing such stuff with us always!! :)
Yeah, they are only found on a 50x20 meter square on the eastern coast of Tasmania. No one knows when the new location will be known to the public, but we do know that it is in the same general area, but not the exact location.
It is indeed a very cool and unique fish!
Thank you for those kind words :D
Hope the next location will be know to the public soon and we will go to see this cutie pie red fish. :P Thanks to you too for making the precious informative article for us. :)
Hehe, Tasmania is a beautiful island, so that will be a very nice trip ;)
Yeah, it will be ;)
Indeed a beautiful specie ....
I was thinking about the effect the oceanic plastic contamination can have on these fish.( your latest post about corals got me thinking)
Very little is known about these fish like thier habitat choice and reproduction mechanism, so nothing can be said with 100% surety.
I suppose plastic might be a big problem for these fish, since they live in areas very close to the shore. But as you say, we don't really know much about them, so we can't say anything for sure, but research suggest that they are pretty sensitive to global warming, which is why they became so rare in the first place.
Due to water pollution alot of fish species is in endanger so its would be good to keep water clean..
Absolutely, @hidayat4u! Pollution that eventually ends up in the ocean is a huge problem for many marine species.
Exactly but government also do not any notice of this..
That's unfortunate.. Most governments are too concerned about making a profit to care about the environment and how much their country is polluting I guess.
yeh exactly
The Red Hand Fish looks amazing. you certainly have a thing for nature.
is it not possible for the scientists to breed more fish?
That's a good question. Breeding animals in an aquarium and releasing them back into the wild sounds plausible, but some fish species are very difficult to get to spawn in tanks, so I'm not sure if it will work. But it's a very good suggestion :)
Thank you. I hope it does work, but I think scientist must have thought about it already and they'd be working on it already. They aren't so dumb, I guess.
Yeah, they have probably checked it out already to see if it's possible ;)
It's a very strange friend fish I've never seen it but it seems fantastic thanks for sharing in the community, I learned something new thanks to this very good post congratulations greetings
I'm glad you learned something new, @andreina89 :) It's a really cool and unique fish!
Thanks friend
Good news after the extinction of The eastern cougar..by accident the scientist discover new population of world's rarest fish.Thanks god.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing @kouba01. I wanted to write about something a little bit more cheerful after such a depressing post yesterday. Sadly bad news are way more common than good news when it comes to conservation biology and environmental sciences.
Best regards from @valth
I love your posts about nature! Actually I did not know that exists hand-fishes! They look so intriguing!
Thank you, @alexandraioana26 :)
Yeah, they are really fascinating! Most people don't even know that there exists fish like these ones.
Best regards from @valth