July 9: It is amazing but true. Even as tonnes of oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, experts have discovered' two new fish species in the now polluted waters.A research describes the new species as pancake batfishes, which live in waters either partially or fully.“One of the fishes we describe is completely restricted to the oil spill area,” said John Sparks, curator of Ichthyology at the American Museum of Natural History.
“If we are still finding new species of fishes in the Gulf, imagine how much diversity - especially microdiversity - is out there that we do not know about.”
Pancake batfishes are members of the anglerfish family Ogcocephalidae, a group of about 70 species of flat bottom-dwellers that often live in deep, perpetually dark waters, says a release from the American Museum.
Pancake batfishes have enormous heads and mouths that can thrust forward. This, combined with their ability to cryptically blend in with their surroundings, gives them an advantage for capturing prey.
