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A tumultuously colourful Modern species of scorpionfish has been found deep in the Caribbean near Curaçao .
The fish is orange - red , with splashes of icteric and pink decorate its louver and face . Its scientific name isScorpaenodes barrybrowni , after nature photographer Barry Brown , who works with the Smithsonian Institution missionary post that discovered the deep - ocean - living fish .
A new species of scorpionfish,Scorpaenodes barrybrowni, discovered in the deep reefs of the Caribbean. This scorpionfish is distinguished from its relatives by the elongated rays on its fins and by its starbursts of color.
S. barrybrowniis a denizen of the rocky seafloor and underwater cliff , spending its time between about 310 and 525 foot ( 95 to 160 metre ) down . Researchers discovered the new species during the Deep Reef Observation Project ( DROP ) , a Smithsonian Institution mission toexplore reefsdeeper than scuba divers can go . investigator used a manned submersible , Curasub , to collect sampling of scorpionfish from near the island of Curaçao and discovered that several were of a species never seen before . [ See pic of the Bizarre Fish and Other Freaky - Looking Fish ]
" The 50- to 300 - beat [ 160 to 980 metrical foot ] tropical ocean zona is ill studied — too deep for schematic scuba and too shallow to be of much interestingness to really deep - diving submersible warship , " Carole Baldwin , the lead scientist at DROP , enunciate in a instruction . " The Curasub is provide scientists with the engineering demand to remedy this gap in our knowledge of Caribbean Witwatersrand biodiversity . "
Scientists pile up the new specie with two hydraulic arms that anesthetize the fish and then bring them to the surface for study . They ’ve dubbed their new find the stellate scorpionfish because of the colored , starburst patterns on its quint and center .
Varicus lacerta, or the Godzilla goby, lives in deep Caribbean reefs and was discovered in 2016 by the Smithsonian Deep Reef Observation Project. The fish got its name because of its rows of sharp, curved teeth.
Genetic and anatomical analysis exhibit the young species to be separate from other westerly Atlantic scorpionfish such asScorpaenodes caribbaeusandS. tredecimspinosus , Baldwin and her colleague wrote in an clause release online July 21 in the open - admittance journal ZooKeys . The fish are typically about 1.5 inches ( 37 millimetre ) long and are the deepest - livingScorpaenodesfish ever discover .
The colored lilliputian reef fish is the 9th newfangled Pisces discovered by the DROP mission , Baldwin and her colleague pen . Other discoveries admit the green - eyed , yellow - skinned Godzilla gudgeon ( Varicus lacerta ) , and the tiny , iridescentHaptoclinus dropi .
Original clause on Live Science .
