"Nine Fish With "Hands" Found to Be New Species"

[Dockar03]

From The Richard Dawkins Foundation:

Using its fins to walk, rather than swim, along the ocean floor in an undated picture, the pink handfish is one of nine newly named species described in a recent scientific review of the handfish family.

Only four specimens of the elusive four-inch (ten-centimeter) pink handfish have ever been found, and all of those were collected from areas around the city of Hobart (map), on the Australian island of Tasmania.

Though no one has spotted a living pink handfish since 1999, it's taken till now for scientists to formally identify it as a unique species.

The new-species determinations were made based on a number of factors, including number of vertebrae and fin rays, coloration, the presence of scales and spines, and proportional body measurements, according to review author Daniel Gledhill of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, or CSIRO

http://richarddawkins.net/articles/474072-pictures-nine-fish-with-hands-found-to-be-new-species

There are photos on the Richard Dawkins site.

 

[Case]

Give him a big hand!

Pink handfish. Ah, ever so clever with the species nomenclature.

By the way, isn't this further empirical evidence that god is testing our faith? (and yes, I stole that joke)

 

[MRaverz]

This is pretty close to a thread I was about to start up, so I might as well chuck out the question here.

Noting that seal's have hand-like bone structures within their fins. Are they an example of a land-based creature evolving into a sea-based creature, just like the whale?

On topic: why did it take so long for them to be identified as new species? D;

 

[darthrender2010]

Noting that seal's have hand-like bone structures within their fins. Are they an example of a land-based creature evolving into a sea-based creature, just like the whale?

considering that they are mammals the answer has to be yes, but I happened to research this topic a few months ago as well so I can give you one with more clarity. The Pinipeds (a super-family which includes the walruses, true seals, sea lions etc.) evolved from a creature similar to modern day dogs and bears (sharing a common ancestor with ursidae a couple hundred million years ago which split off from a common ancestor of canidae).

 

[MRaverz]

Noting that seal's have hand-like bone structures within their fins. Are they an example of a land-based creature evolving into a sea-based creature, just like the whale?

considering that they are mammals the answer has to be yes, but I happened to research this topic a few months ago as well so I can give you one with more clarity. The Pinipeds (a super-family which includes the walruses, true seals, sea lions etc.) evolved from a creature similar to modern day dogs and bears (sharing a common ancestor with ursidae a couple hundred million years ago which split off from a common ancestor of canidae).

Thanks! I had suspected they might be somehow closely related to bears or dogs when I'd seen a skeleton at the zoo yesterday, which sparked off the question.

 

[Case]

Palm-sized waterbear. Sounds much cooler than pink handfish.

 

[Andiferous]

This thing has the potential for many backhanded puns.

 

[Tarrin4ever]

I saw this elsewhere, but I felt it deserved to be shared.

 

[Anachronous Rex]

This