Tiniest Fish Found in Asia
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Tiniest Fish Found in Asia
AFP
Jan. 25, 2006 — Scientists from Europe and Singapore say they have discovered the world's tiniest fish, a species that lives in peat wetlands in Southeast Asia and, when fully grown, is the size of a large mosquito.
The record-busting newcomer to the biodiversity book, Paedocypris progenetica, is a distant cousin of the carp, said the discoverers, who publish their findings on Wednesday in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a British journal.
Skinny and transparent, the elusive fish lives in highly-acid peat swamps on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and in the Malaysian parts of Borneo that are threatened by forestry and agriculture.
These so-called "blackwater" swamps are a unique landscape of flooded trees growing in water-logged, soft, peaty soil that is often meters thick.
The water is stained reddish-black, like very dark tea, appearing black at the surface. It is extraordinarily acidic, having a pH3 value of only three, the same as a sour apple.
The scientists needed a special stereoscopic microscope to accurately measure the fish.
The smallest adult specimen they netted was a mature Paedocypris progenetica female, found in Sumatra, that came to just 7.9 mm (0.31 of an inch) from nose to tail, making it not only the world's smallest fish but the smallest vertebrate too.
She nudged out the previous record holder, a marine fish of the Western Pacific called the dwarf goby (Trimmatom nanus), which comes in at 8 mm (0.32 of an inch) at sexual maturity.
The team also found a related Paedocypris species, P. micromegethes, in Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo.
At 8.8 mm (0.35 of an inch), P. micromegethes is the second-smallest freshwater vertebrate ever found.
The fish was discovered by Maurice Kottelat and Tan Heok Hui, researchers at the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at the National University of Singapore.
They were assisted by Ralf Britz of Britain's National Museum of Natural History and Kai-Erik Witte at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tuebingen, Germany.
Kottelat said P. progenetica has "a very rudimentary skull" which leaves the brain exposed.
Evolutionary pressures have caused the fish to develop highly modified fins to survive in its special environment. Males also have a tough pad on the front of the pelvic girdle that may be used to help them clutch onto females during mating.
"The discovery of such a tiny and bizarre fish highlights how little we know about the diversity of Southeast Asia," said Kottelat. "This is all the more serious because the habitat of this fish is disappearing very fast, and the fate of the species is now in doubt."
Taken From:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/afp/20060123/tinyfish_ani.html -
7.9 mm in length?
But the silverfish I saw at Bedok Library that day seemed smaller than that. -
Originally posted by gentlerock:7.9 mm in length?
But the silverfish I saw at Bedok Library that day seemed smaller than that.
That's an insect ma -
typical sg attitude to treating such discoveries.
study its beeding habits.
farm it.
popularise it as a local delicacy -
but it's amazing it's surviving in water with a pH of 3. Most fishes would be dead by now
I wonder when they start popularising it as pets
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pets? i tink more like pet food....Originally posted by elindra:but it's amazing it's surviving in water with a pH of 3. Most fishes would be dead by now
I wonder when they start popularising it as pets -
Maybe it's like sea monkeys.Originally posted by skeujin:pets? i tink more like pet food....
Some keep as pets
Others as pet food -
lol more little fishes for your rays to feed on?Originally posted by elindra:Maybe it's like sea monkeys.
Some keep as pets
Others as pet food
would these considered apetizers?
u twisted evil bear
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the stingrays would get myopia trying to find them in the first place ...Originally posted by Kan_i:lol more little fishes for your rays to feed on?
would these considered apetizers?
u twisted evil bear -
Why is the focus back on my rays
They are cute little ones -
read: still undersized for the BBQ ....Originally posted by elindra: Why is the focus back on my rays
They are cute little ones -
we r stil waitg with sambal for them...Originally posted by elindra: Why is the focus back on my rays
They are cute little ones -
Rhonda will tell you guys my stingrays are tiny and cute
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im sure they will taste nice too...Originally posted by elindra:Rhonda will tell you guys my stingrays are tiny and cute -
You won't live long enough to taste themOriginally posted by skeujin:im sure they will taste nice too... -
pls note tt yr rays r classified as seafood. n let me stress on the word FOOD.Originally posted by elindra:You won't live long enough to taste them
if they wer to b treated as wat u r doing now. they wld have to b reclassified as seapets... bt since there is no such thing....
whrs the chincharok? -
this fish can eat wan anot?
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Please note that these are freshwater stingrays and I can't see how freshwater fishes are classified under SEAfoodOriginally posted by skeujin:pls note tt yr rays r classified as seafood. n let me stress on the word FOOD.
if they wer to b treated as wat u r doing now. they wld have to b reclassified as seapets... bt since there is no such thing....
whrs the chincharok? -
they all luk the same on a banana leaf n covered in sambal...Originally posted by elindra:Please note that these are freshwater stingrays and I can't see how freshwater fishes are classified under SEAfood -
probably ....Originally posted by stellazio:this fish can eat wan anot?
but you'd have to catch a lot of them to make a mouthful ... -
eh, u 1st time in SGF ah ? NPNT !Originally posted by elindra:Rhonda will tell you guys my stingrays are tiny and cute -
Originally posted by chunyong:eh, u 1st time in SGF ah ? NPNT !
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Pls lor, my rays pictures I already post dunno how many liao. You never see before you 1st time in SGF ah?Originally posted by chunyong:eh, u 1st time in SGF ah ? NPNT ! -
sooo cute!
i think it'll be bullied by sea monkeys coz it's so small -
wah..looks deliciousOriginally posted by skeujin: