This pretty affair was find by Claudia Howse , Glenys Howse and James Beuvink while on vacation in the Bay of Islands , New Zealand sooner this month . Confused and dumbfounded , they post it to theMuseum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewafor designation .
In aFacebook Emily Post , the museum initially said the “ Pisces the Fishes with leg ” was “ likely to be a specie of Frogfish . ” The museum ’s nonmigratory fish expert Andrew Stewart has now identified the specimen as a striated frogfish , a.k.a the hirsute frogfish ( Antennarius striatus . ) After its post-mortem , the research worker took a lowly tissue paper sample from the frogfish to keep for further interrogation .
unremarkably , this species has typical spotted or streaked marker , so this all - black expression took everybody off precaution .
" It is very unusual in that it is whole black , with only a trace of a shape on the shaft of the Illicium ( root word of the bait ) , " the museum pen in their latestFacebook post , referring to the animal’sfishing pole - like apparatus , standardised to those see in Anglerfish . " There are competing theories around this : is it one highly variable coinage , or several ? The tissue sample distribution we took will help to suffice this . "
These frogfishes are able to “ walk ” along and lurk on the sea bottom using their down pointing pectoral fins . Despite their small-scale stature , they ’re also somewhat ferocious carnivores that have beenknown to be cannibals . To reel in their prey , they employ a louse - like lure on their head . Once in grasp , they outwardly expand their mouths , give up them to bolt up fish the same sizing as them .
As the museum also explained in theirFacebook berth , “ frogfish have the fastest pungency of any vertebrate . Their backtalk expand at the upper approaching a .22 rifle bullet train – and that ’s in a medium 800x denser than air . ”
Update 26/01/16 : We’d care to elucidate that the frogfish was NOT vote down for enquiry purposes . New Zealand museums have a long - held praxis against killing any beast for this role . The family who witness the Pisces the Fishes put it into a saltwater bait tank , intend to send it to Kelly Tarlton ’s aquarium in Auckland for identification . alas the fish break , so alternatively they sent it to the museum as a inquiry specimen .
FROGFISH UPDATE : Our now universe - renowned " walking Pisces the Fishes " , sent in by Glenys Howse from the Bay of Islands , has been …
send byMuseum of New Zealand Te Papa TongarewaonTuesday , 1 January 2025
