Fish

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

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.

Related Articles

Back to top button