Marine researchers were able to see a “rare and special fish” that had not been seen in over 25 years, off the coast of Tasmania, Australia, according to a press release.
Researchers came across the narrowbody handfish, also called Pezichthys compressus, while on the South-East Australian Marine Ecosystem Survey (SEA-MES) led by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in July, according to a press release from CSIRO on Wednesday.
“I was pretty excited to find the handfish. I know that this is a rare and special fish,” Dr. Candice Untiedt, a Marine ecologist said of spotting the fish.
Handfish are hide-and-seek experts at the best of times, and the narrowbody handfish (Pezichthys compressus) seems more elusive than most. 🐟
Last spotted in 1996, we believe we’ve found one on a recent #RVInvestigator voyage around southeast Australia. https://t.co/2jZ7oabFXd
— CSIRO (@CSIRO) August 23, 2023
Prior to embarking on the month-long expedition aboard the RV Investigator, Carlie Devine, a research technician “collected 20 critically endangered spotted handfish,” also known as Brachionichthys hirsutus. (RELATED: Virginia Fisherman Reels In ‘Extremely Rare’ Largemouth Bass)
“We suspect it’s a narrowbody handfish. But this handfish is much bigger than the two we have on record and is about 100 kilometres away from its current known location,” Devine said. “We can’t be 100 per cent sure which handfish species it is. This is as close as we can get without seeing others or collecting a sample fish.”
Narrowbody handfish were first discovered by the CSIRO in 1986, and have not been spotted since 1996, according to the press release.
Researchers from the CSIRO said they “hope” the spotted handfish will breed so they can “release the juveniles” back into the water so that the populations can keep growing and “thriving.”
The Daily Caller reached out to CSIRO but did not receive a response back by the time of publication.