Credit: Viktor Nunes Peinemann |
A new species of fish has been described from the Red Sea, much to its misery. At less than 2 centimeters (0.8 inches) long, it’s managed to pack enough fury into its tiny face to earn the common name grumpy dwarfgoby, and I’m in love.
Scientists first spotted the new-to-science species while diving in the Farasan Banks in Saudi Arabia, before later finding more near Thuwal in the Red Sea. At first, it looked similar to the fiery dwarfgoby (Sueviota pyrios) – a rare beauty known only from one specimen collected way back in 1972 – but later they realized it was an entirely new species. |
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It’s scientific name is Sueviota aethon, a nod to one of the four horses of the Greek Sun god, Helios, with S. pyrios being named after another. And, the researchers add, “the common name, Grumpy dwarfgoby, refers to the fish’s apparent grumpy and rather unhappy appearance, primarily due to the extremely upturned mouth position.”
Pretty much hits the nail on the head. |
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