This species of fish is classified as endangered.

For the first time in 22 years, a very rare “walking” fish with hands, found exclusively in Australia, has been discovered off the coast of Tasmania. Pink fish was last observed by divers near Tasmania in 1999. This aquatic mammal has been seen four times in history.

Brachiopsilus, a pink fish with “hands,” has an unusual shape and fins that allow it to “walk” on the seafloor. It is one of 14 brachionichti fish species.

The pink fish was recently listed as endangered. The fish was spotted by Australian researchers earlier this year at a marine park while recording with a deep-water camera at 150 meters.

“This is an exciting discovery and offers hope for the ongoing survival of pink handfish, as clearly they have a wider habitat and distribution than previously thought,” said professor Neville Barrett, the lead researcher.

How did they find this unusual species?

At the beginning of this year, a group of researchers from the University of Tasmania dropped a camera equipped with bait from a helicopter onto the seabed of the Tasman Fracture Marine Park to examine corals, lobsters, and fish.

In October, while examining the tape, the researcher found a unique marine organism. It turned out to be a rare pink fish with “hands”.

“I was watching one of our rough videos and there was a little fish that popped up on this reef ledge that looked a bit odd,” said Ashlee Bastiaansen.

“I had a closer look and you could see its little hands,” she told the ABC.

The clip shows the 15cm fish coming out from a ledge after being disturbed by a rock lobster.

“In that time it’s given us a really great head-on piece of imagery … to absolutely categorically identify the species and measure its size,” Associate Prof Barrett told the ABC.

As previously reported, a football fish was discovered on a beach in San Diego, California. There are just 31 known specimens of this fish species in the world.

Image Credit: File Photo

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