An Australian resident accidentally came across a fish that was considered extinct (6 photos)

In Australia, a woman while jogging on the beach found a fish with “hands” that was considered extinct 20 years ago.





A fish-like creature with arms instead of fins, accidentally bumped into Kerry Yar while jogging along Primrose Sands beach in state of Tasmania on the island of the same name. "I'm always interested in all sorts of things creatures that I notice while jogging. It was like a small pufferfish or a toadfish, which I saw a lot,” recalls woman. “But when I looked closer, I saw that under the sand she hides small fins in the shape of hands.”



Yar photographed her find and was later identified as Brachionichthys hirsutus is a ray-finned fish of the family Brachionichthyidae. They live only off the coast of Tasmania and are distinguished by the fact that their abdominal the fins are elongated and resemble paws. The creature uses them to “walk” along the bottom in search of food.



Kerry Yar

Moreover, the last time these fish were off the coast Primrose Sands was noticed about 20 years ago. "Up to the discovery, taken last weekend, we thought that the local population of these fish disappeared before 2005,” said biologist Carly Devine.



She also noted that her colleagues made unsuccessful attempts to find these fish several years ago.



Divine said that before 1990 they dated quite often in Tasmanian waters, but the population later split into nine separate. It is now believed that there are no more than two thousand individuals of these fish At the moment, ichthyologists are trying to revive the population by creating artificial spawning grounds for rare fish.