worlds smalest fish

[The-Wolf]

This was in the TIMES newspaper today

 

[Jen]

I'd love to read that article. It's too blurry though

 

[The-Wolf]

I'm working on typing it out so bear with me

 

[guppykeeper]

Cool!

 

[wuvmybetta]

At first I thought the hot dog was him Until I saw his actual size above it, what a teeny tiny

 

[Jen]

thanks danio.... you're a doll!

 

[The-Wolf]

Here's the article
July 08, 2004

A minnow among minnows: the world's smallest fish
By Ben Hoyle


AUSTRALIAN scientists have discovered the world’s smallest fish, which is tiny enough to hide under a single mushy pea, let alone a whole chip.

The stout infantfish, or Schindleria brevipinguis, has no teeth, fins or scales and lives for around two months. The male grows to a maximum length of 7mm (less than a third of an inch), 1.6mm shorter than the previous record-holder, and weighs just one milligram, the same as a three-thousandth of a table tennis ball. Scientists believe that it is also the world’s smallest vertebrate.

“It’s a bit of a wow factor that we have it in our collection,” said Tom Trnski, of the Australian Museum, which has listed it as one of thirty-two new species of fish in the latest volume of its research journal.

Over time the fish had reduced itself to the bare minimum it needed to function and reproduce, he said. Apart from a backbone and its comparatively large eyes there is very little to it.

A researcher at the museum first collected a specimen of the fish in 1979 from a coral lagoon in north Queensland but it was not classified until two American researchers, William Watson, of the National Marine Fisheries in La Jolla, California, and H. J. Walker, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, confirmed it was a separate species.

Little is known about the stout infantfish’s biology. The adult retains larval characteristics, and it reaches maturity in about a month. The female, which grows to a relatively monstrous 8.9mm, hatches eggs at between two and four weeks of age and dies not long after.

A spokesman for The Guinness Book of Records confirmed that, subject to verifying the research, the world has a new smallest fish.

The previous official record holder — and the shortest known vertebrate — is the dwarf goby (Trimmatom nanus) which is found in the Indo-Pacific region. It has an average length of 8.6mm for males and 8.9mm for females. The largest fish on record was the great shark Carcharodon megalodon which lived between 50 and 4.5 million years ago. Studies suggest it grew up to 13.7m (45ft).

Man the power of copying and pasting

 

[eja0913]

that's really interesting. thanks for that article, Danio

 

[silver]

Yes, thank you......

I love reading cool little articles while drinking my late morning coffee!!!

 

[sunflower]

Wow, what more can I say?

 

[Gill]

Thanks for the article, it was a good read.

 

[endparenthesis]

Wow... where can I get some to feed to my fry.

 

[asmack]

At first I thought the hot dog was him Until I saw his actual size above it, what a teeny tiny

I thought that was a french fry on the fork...

 

[Auratus]

I thought it was a fish stick

 

[balloon molly]

I thought it was a fish stick

too funny i am sorry but that was funny to me
but i thinkn i t was a french fry