Photo: BORIS HORVAT/AFP/Getty Images
For: The opinion Posted Jan 31, 2023, 10:30 pm EST
Researchers constantly find new animal species, but one has recently surprised by its unusual figure, because it is a fish that has a bump that resembles the mythical unicorn.
A new study, published in the journal ZooKeys, describes the finding of a strange species of blind cave fish with a mysterious horn-like structure protruding from its head and lacking scales or pigmentation.
the strange new species named S. longicornus was found during an expedition in the dark waters of Guizhou cavesa mountainous province in southwest China, when researchers were looking for another type of fish.
The authors of the research studied cave fish of the genus Sinocyclocheiluswhich are only found in China, usually in small ponds shrouded in darkness, when suddenly they came across a totally different specimen.
the researchers they discovered the new fish swimming in a small pond 1.8 meters wide and 0.8 meters deep, inside a mountain cave. The team collected specimens to take to the laboratory and examine them, unaware that they were collecting a never-before-seen species.
After comparing the fish to other known species and analyzing their DNA, the researchers realized what they had discovered: a whole new species that had not been discovered.
new fish dropped!! (Sinocyclocheilus longicornus)
it’s blind, has no scales and lives in caves. it was discovered in china, 2000 meters above sea level pic.twitter.com/TmlCYBNzvp— laura (@Peachydew_) January 29, 2023
They seek an explanation of why it has a horn
According to the study, the fish measure between 10.5 and 14.6 centimeters and they have two pairs of whisker-like chins that they use to orient themselves in the dark. But perhaps its most interesting feature is the unusually long horn-like structurewhich has no clear use and is not found in closely related species.
The name longicornus It derives from the Latin words longus, meaning “long,” and cornu, meaning “horn on the forehead.”
Since the species that live in the light do not have horns, these appendages likely have something to do with life in the darkbut it is not clear what its purpose is, the researchers write in the article.
The most logical explanation would be that the horns help these fish to “see” in the dark, but their chins already allow them to navigate their pool, which isn’t very big, so it would probably require minimal navigation skills anyway.
You might also be interested in:
PHOTOS: They find “Toadzilla” in Australia, it could be the largest toad in the world
The bear that couldn’t stop taking selfies in Colorado