Scientists discover beautiful new rainbow-colored fish lurking among 'twilight reefs'

By Harry Baker published about 9 hours ago

The newly named wrasse was previously mislabeled as another species.



The male rose-veiled fairy wrasse (Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa) displaying its rainbow hues. (Image credit: Yi-Kai Tea/California Academy of Sciences)

Researchers have described a stunning multicolored wrasse in the Maldives as a newfound species, after the fish spent decades being misidentified as a closely related species. The rainbow-colored fish lives among unusually deep coral reefs known as "twilight reefs."

The newly described species, which has been named the rose-veiled fairy wrasse (Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa), resembles the red velvet fairy wrasse (Cirrhilabrus rubrisquamis), which is found across the western Indian Ocean. Both species live on mesophotic coral reefs, which grow much deeper than most tropical coral reefs — between 100 and 490 feet (30 and 149 meters) below the ocean’s surface, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Scientists collected the first C. finifenmaa specimen in 1990, but its similarity to C. rubrisquamis meant that experts didn't recognize the fish as a distinct species.

Recently, after noticing this mistake, another group of researchers collected specimens of C. finifenmaa from the twilight reefs surrounding the Maldives. When they compared the new specimens to C. rubrisquamis wrasses, they found that C. finifenmaa females (which are mainly red, pink and blue) were a close match to C. rubrisquamis. However, C. finifenmaa males were not; their scales featured more orange and yellow hues. The researchers also found that C. finifenmaa has a different number of scales in certain body regions and taller dorsal spines than its look-alike cousin. DNA analysis confirmed that these two species were genetically distinct.

In addition, the study revealed that C. finifenmaa has a much smaller geographic range than C. rubrisquamis, which will inform conservation efforts to protect the species.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/rainbow-fish-discovered-among-twilight-reefs