On a recent deepwater dive at Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Dr. Richard Pyle found a Prognathodes species that has eluded divers and ichthyologists for years. Three of these undescribed butterfly fish were collected at 200ft. Edit: As Matt so kindly reminded us, this yet to be named species is actually, Prognathodes basabei which have recently been [...]
On a recent deepwater dive at Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Dr. Richard Pyle found a Prognathodes species that has eluded divers and ichthyologists for years. Three of these undescribed butterfly fish were collected at 200ft. Edit: As Matt so kindly reminded us, this yet to be named species is actually, Prognathodes basabei which have recently been collected by diver Rufus Kimura. The name is not yet official as a dead specimen was not available–all of them are living in aquariums!
Pyle and others are begining to see a trend in the depths of which these deepwater beauties live in the Hawaiian Islands and the Northwestern Islands. Like Genicanthus personatus, this Prognathodes sp. is found at extreme depths (>120m) at the main Hawaiian Islands, and can be found in much shallower waters at Midway and the Northwestern Islands. Dr. Yannis Papastamatiou shared on the Sanctuaries blog that this Prognathodes has been spotted in waters off of Oahu at 400ft:
At Pearl and Hermes and Laysan, we find fish at 200ft, which can only be found at 400ft in the main Hawaiian Islands. We know that some fish found at 300ft off of Oahu can be found in 30ft of water off of Midway and Kure. The obvious question is: what will we find at 200ft off of Kure and Midway?? We hit Kure tomorrow.
We look forward to what other beauties they find at Kure. On the dive at Pearl and Hermes Atoll, scientists saw 12 to 15 fish they believe to be new species–the Prognathodes is just one of those.
[via : NOAA]
