The ruby seadragon, scientific name Phyllopteryx dewysea is a marine fish within the family Syngnathidae, which additionally consists of seahorses. It inhabits the coast of Western Australia.
Ruby seadragon profile
The Ruby seadragon was found in its natural habitat by a team of scientists, together with the Western Australian Museum. It is now one amongst solely three identified species of seadragons, making it significantly uncommon.
Unlike the leafy or weedy seadragons, this seadragon lacks leafy appendages regarded as widespread to all seadragons. This probably has to do with its habitat, which consists of open areas and sponges, not kelp and seagrass.
The ruby seadragon species was first described in 2015, making it solely the third identified species of seadragon, and the first to be found in 150 years. A specimen discovered onshore in 2007 was 23.5 cm (9.3 in) long.
The team that found this species, named the marine fish after its coloration they usually consider it’s so red as a result of it inhabits the deeper waters, the place red hues are absorbed more effectively and being red-colored might help camouflage.
In April 2016, researchers used an underwater digital camera to film a video of a live specimen for the first time, publishing their findings in January 2017.
The video confirmed that the ruby seadragon has stumpy lobes, relatively than the longer (widespread) or elaborate (leafy) lobes that protrude from the opposite seadragons within the family Syngnathidae.
Based on records, many assumed that the ruby seadragon usually lives at depths past regular scuba range and diving limits, which could be the rationalization to why it went undiscovered for this long. The species is discovered more typically offshore in deeper waters.
Scientific papers have been executed by the University of Western Australia and Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.
The ruby seadragon has a prehensile tail, which suggests it may well use its tail to carry and manipulate objects.
Other species of seadragon should not have such a tail, so this might level to an evolutionary trigger. It is unknown in the event that they developed this trait or if the opposite species lost it over time.
Australia’s uncommon ruby seadragon has lately been seen alive for the first time. Because of tough sea situations, a team of researchers had simply at some point to search out the elusive “monster” off the coast of southern Australia.
The ruby seadragon lives in waters too deep for human divers, so the team used a remote-controlled submersible (undersea vessel) to scour the murky sea backside.
After a number of makes an attempt, on the team’s final attempt, the submersible’s digital camera lastly captured the first photographs of a dwelling ruby seadragon.
Seadragon is the widespread name for a number of sorts of fish just like seahorses. Like seahorses, seadragons have a long snout and skin coated in bony plates.
But seadragons typically develop bigger than seahorses, they usually have flatter bodies fringed with uncommon skin flaps.
The two most well-known species (varieties) are the weedy (or widespread) seadragon and the leafy (or Glauert’s) seadragon. Both species usually live in reefs or amongst seaweed off southern Australia.
The creatures tackle the looks of seaweed, enabling them to cover from predators (looking animals). Despite their fearsome name, seadragons are fragile and delicate, no hazard to people, and develop to solely about 18 inches (45 centimeters) in size.
Leafy and weedy seadragon species have been identified to inhabit the southern shores of Australia for a while, however, some specimens had baffled scientists for many years.
A number of shiny red seadragons with no leafy appendages have been collected by trawling (amassing fish with funnel formed nets) or discovered washed up on seashores.
Because all these creatures have been useless, scientists assumed they have been leafy or weedy seadragons that had been broken by the trawls or had decayed before they have been collected.
In 2015, nonetheless, the same team of Rouse, Stiller, and Wilson analyzed samples of those “damaged” specimens’ DNA and found that they have been in reality a brand new species: the ruby seadragon, Phyllopteryx dewysea. No one had seen a dwelling ruby seadragon, nonetheless, so the team got down to discover one.
Ruby seadragon Habitat
Leafy and weedy seadragons live in seaweed forests at depths accessible to skin divers. The ruby seadragon, nonetheless, lives in deeper water, more than 160 feet (50 meters) beneath the floor.
At that depth, its coloration, whereas sensible on land, truly acts as camouflage. In deep water, red wavelengths of light are absorbed, permitting the ruby seadragon to mix in with the drab sponges that populate the seafloor.
Now {that a} live ruby seadragon has been spotted, the race is on to find out its range and the way its habitat could be protected.
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