Science and Health

New species discovered in S Pacific island chain

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-20 13:33

WELLINGTON - New Zealand scientists believe they have discovered two previously unknown species of fish during an expedition to the remote Kermadec islands in the south Pacific.

Although the finds were still to be officially confirmed, Auckland Museum marine curator Tom Trnski said in a statement on Friday that they were probably new to science.

"We have two species that I'm pretty confident are new to science - a little left-eye flounder and a pipe fish," Trnski said in the statement.

"We suspect the flounder doesn't grow very big as the largest one we have collected is just 10 cm long, but it's a pretty wee thing," said Trnski.

"Probably the most exciting find is the pipe fish - again it's small, just 10 cm long, and a white body with striking orange spots. Pipe fish are related to sea horses, and are really just like a sea horse that has been straightened out."

The team had also found species previously unrecorded in New Zealand waters, including a shark, a zebra lionfish, a tropical banded eel, a blackspot sergeant and a tropical goatfish.

Trnski said final confirmation of the species records would be made only after the expedition returned to mainland New Zealand in 10 days.

The 13-strong team of scientists, which includes experts from New Zealand's Department of Conservation, the Te Papa museum in Wellington, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research and the Australian Museum, had also discovered new species on land.

Department of Conservation botanist Peter de Lange had found three species of filmy ferns that were new records for the Kermadecs.

Marine invertebrate specialists Mandy Reid and Stephen Keable, of the Australian Museum, expected to find new species in among the creatures they had collected, but said it might take many months for the material to be identified by experts around the world.

Entomologist Warren Chinn, of the Department of Conservation, would also have to wait for identification of moths, bugs and flies he had collected ashore.

The expedition has been focusing its attention around Raoul Island and small islands nearby, at the northern end of the subtropical Kermadecs, which lie 1,000 km northeast of New Zealand 's North Island.

The expedition would move south to Macauley Island, and carry out surveys around the four southern islands in the island chain over the next eight days.

The waters surrounding the Kermadec Islands are protected in the Kermadec Marine Reserve, which at 745,000 ha is New Zealand's largest, while the islands themselves are a protected nature reserve open only to authorized visitors.