A Diver Searching For Manta Rays Saw A Unique Fish

year 2023, Dr. Mark Erdmann made the fortunate discovery of a species of shrimp goby that science has never before identified: the Lady Elliot shrimp goby. At the time, he was diving off Lady Elliot Island in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in the hopes of seeing manta rays.

According to the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) annual report, Erdmann’s discovery was just one of 153 new species of plants, animals, and fungi that CAS researchers and their collaborators found in 2023 across six continents and four oceans.

Twenty sea slugs, thirteen sea stars (mainly deep-water species from Antarctica), five fish (including three gobies reported by Erdmann and David Greenfield), and a sea snail were among the species that they found among the sea.

Alpheid snapping shrimp, which construct tunnels in the sand while the gobies keep an eye out for predators, coexist together with shrimp gobies, shallow-water reef fish that inhabit sandy seabeds close to coral reefs.

“Describing a new species is truly a collaborative process, and we often involve a geneticist to test fin-ray clips – that’s enough to do DNA ‘barcoding’, which helps us place animals on the tree of life,” says Erdmann of the modern process of describing new species.

The method of analyzing small gene segments from a material is called barcoding. “Although it’s not always precise, it aids in verifying the distinctions and distinctive characteristics that our eyes can detect, like color or iridescence,” says Erdmann. The Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation has a description of the Lady Elliot goby (Tomiyamichthys elliotensis).

“These fishes live fast, breed fast and die fast,” says Erdmann of the shrimp goby, “but the same stressors that affect more charismatic species – climate change, habitat degradation, and pollution – are likely affecting these smaller fishes too.”

Despite the fact that the researcher believes that bigger, more iconic species pose a greater threat to conservation than smaller, less well-known species, ichthyologists will be gathering for the first time next spring to officially evaluate the conservation status of these fishes.

This year we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, which has been directly responsible for saving hundreds of species,” Dr. Scott Sampson, executive director of CAS, states. Due to human-caused factors including pollution, climate change, and habitat degradation, one million more species are still in danger.

“We must document the Earth’s living diversity so that we can work to protect it, and the California Academy of Sciences is honoured to take part in this critical global effort.

“Additionally, we must aim beyond protection toward regeneration, boosting the health and resilience of ecosystems for future generations of humans and non-humans alike.”

The California Academy of Sciences has a public aquarium, planetarium and natural history museum alongside its Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability research and environmental education facility all under one roof in Golden Gate Park. 

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