Blue-lipped creature — with ‘pearly white’ body — discovered as new species in Maldives
Surrounding tropical islands, coral reefs can extend for miles into the deep ocean.
Layers and levels of rocky coral and soft sponges create a network of nooks and crannies where creatures can hide.
But as the water gets deeper, the light able to reach the coral from the surface decreases in an area called the mesophotic zone.
“Exploration of the planet’s mesophotic ecosystems has been uneven. Hawaii and some locations in the Caribbean, the South Pacific and the Red Sea are relatively well-known, whereas the eastern Pacific, eastern Atlantic and Indian Ocean are largely unexplored,” according to a study published Nov. 29 in the peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys.
One of these unexplored places is the Maldives, a series of islands in the northern Indian Ocean.
Hoping to learn more about these ecosystems, researchers conducted ichthyological surveys, or studies that identify different species of fish, off the coast of the islands.
Around the Maldives’ atolls, researchers discovered a small blueish fish tucked in the crevices of the coral, and the fish were captured in a hand net and brought to the surface.
The 2.7-inch-long unidentified damselfish was caught around 330 feet below the surface, according to the study.
Its body is “pearly white with pale blue undertones” that get darker along its back and lighter below the eye, researchers said. The area under the eye also has “very reflective” scales.
The eye itself is a “blue silvery-blue circle (surrounding a) darker, central part of (the) iris,” according to the study.
The fish’s forehead between the eyes is “greenish silver,” researchers said, and its rounded snout is led by “pale blue” lips.
When the fish is preserved, it loses its blue coloration and fades to a reddish-brown color, according to the study.
The new species was named Chromis abadhah, or the perpetual chromis damselfish.
“The work that led to the discovery of this species was funded by the Rolex Perpetual Planet initiative,” researchers said. “To honor this initiative, we name this species ‘abadhah,’ which means ‘perpetual’ in Dhivehi, the local language of the Maldives. We also hope that this species and its habitat remain perpetual.”
Chromis abadhah were found in eight locations throughout the Maldives archipelago in areas with “small crevices and caves” surrounding a large number of different sponge species, according to the study.
Damselfish come in a range of sizes and colors, and belong to the same family as the well-known clownfish, according to the Ocean Conservancy. Some species are incredibly territorial and will defend their homes from predators by aggressively swimming toward them, the conservancy says.
The Maldives is an archipelago just south of India and Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean.
The research team includes Luiz A. Rocha, Hudson T. Pinheiro, Ahmed Najeeb, Claudia R. Rocha and Bart Shepherd.
This story was originally published November 29, 2024 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Blue-lipped creature — with ‘pearly white’ body — discovered as new species in Maldives."
