Biologist claims to have found eight new fish species<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): An Australian marine biologist said on Friday
\nthat he had discovered eight new fish and 15 coral species
\nin Indonesian's eastern waters.<\/p>\n
Gerard R. Allen said that the new species were discovered
\nduring a 16-day-expedition that ended on Wednesday to survey the
\nremote Togean and Banggai Islands in Central Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
The research was conducted by a 12-member multinational team
\nof marine scientists.<\/p>\n
The underwater survey was sponsored by Conservation
\nInternational (CI), a United States-based international
\nenvironmental nonprofit organization, which has branches in more
\nthan 24 tropical countries.<\/p>\n
Gerard said that he was 99 percent sure that the new fish
\nspecies were damsel fish, wrasses and blennies.<\/p>\n
The damsel fish belong to the genus Pomacentrus SP and
\nAmblypomacentrus SP, the wrasses were Cirrhilabrus SPP and
\nParacheilinus SP, and the Blennies Essenuis SP.<\/p>\n
The underwater survey was part of CI's Marine Rapid Assessment
\nProgram (Marine RAP) that documented the new findings among about
\n580 fish species in the Togean Islands and 230 species in the
\nBanggai Island.<\/p>\n
He added that the new species might be unique to the Togean
\nIslands.<\/p>\n
\"One rarely gets such a high degree of endemism in marine
\nanimals, especially fishes,\" Gerard said.<\/p>\n
According to scientists La Tanda of the National Institute of
\nSciences' Oceanology Research and Development and Syafyudin Yusuf
\nof Hasanuddin University, the coral reefs around the islands were
\nin much better condition than ones they had surveyed in other
\nparts of Sulawesi and nearby Seram.<\/p>\n
The Marine RAP team also observed that destructive practices,
\ncommon in other areas of Indonesia and the Indo-Pacific region,
\nthat threaten coral reefs and endanger marine animals, were
\napplied there.<\/p>\n
The threats included the use of dynamite and cyanide to catch
\nlive reef fish for export, coral bleaching and crown-of-thorns
\nstarfish, a predator of living corals, Gerard said.<\/p>\n
The survey, which was conducted in 47 sites, is the third
\nMarine RAP survey completed during the past year in the coral
\ntriangle, the region of the world with the greatest diversity of
\nmarine plants and animals. It includes Indonesia, the
\nPhilippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, northern Australia and
\nthe southernmost islands of Japan. (ylt)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/biologist-claims-to-have-found-eight-new-fish-species-1447893297",
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