Sylvia Earle, a deep ocean explorer, provides President Barack Obama of Tosanoides obama on Halfway Atoll, from the movie "Sea of Hope: America's Underwater Treasures" premiering on Nationwide Geographic Channel on Jan. 15, 2017.
Credit score: Brian Skerry | Nationwide GeographicSubsequent time he is vacationing in Hawaii, President Barack Obama would possibly simply stumble upon his new namesake: a pink, yellow and blue coral-reef fish that researchers have named within the president's honor.
Researchers found the beforehand unknown fish species, now dubbed Tosanoides obama, throughout a Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expedition to Papahānaumokuākea Marine Nationwide Monument within the distant Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in June 2016.
"We determined to call this fish after President Obama to acknowledge his efforts to guard and protect the pure atmosphere, together with the growth of Papahānaumokuākea," the examine's lead creator, Richard Pyle, a scientist on the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, mentioned in a press release. "This growth provides a layer of safety to one of many final nice wilderness areas on Earth." [In Photos: Spooky Deep-Sea Creatures]
Obama expanded the Papahānaumokuākea Marine Nationwide Monument on Aug. 26 after Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), together with conservationists and marine scientists, urged the president to guard the area's waters and marine life. The monument is now 582,578 sq. miles (1.5 million sq. kilometers), an space greater than twice the dimensions of Texas, that holds the title for largest everlasting protected marine space on the planet. (The 598,000-squaremile, or 1.55 million sq. km, marine reserve in Antarctica's Ross Sea is bigger, however that space is protected for less than a 35-year interval, Reside Science reported in October.)
Throughout a September journey to Halfway Atoll, an island inside the monument, Obama met with legendary scientist, conservationist and deep-ocean explorer Sylvia Earle, who gave the president of T. obama. The footage of the go to might be proven on the Nationwide Geographic world broadcast particular, "Sea Of Hope," which is able to air Jan. 15, 2017.
Fishy discover
T. obama is small, simply 2.four inches (6.1 centimeters) lengthy, and it lives deep underwater, about 300 toes (90 meters) underneath the floor. Deep coral reefs develop at this depth, however regardless of the range of animals that reside there, this so-called "twilight zone" is not well-explored by marine biologists, the researchers mentioned.
The closest recognized relative to the brand new species is Tosanoides flavofasciatus, a fish that lives within the Palau islands.
Credit score: Richard L. Pyle Bishop MuseumWhen scientists first noticed the small pink fish, they thought it was a Pseudanthias thompsoni (one other tropical fish species), however a outstanding pink spot on the top of the animal's dorsal fin indicated that the fish was a beforehand unidentified species, the researchers wrote within the examine.
A later evaluation discovered that the fish belongs to the basslet group, which incorporates colourful reef fishes usually seen within the aquarium fish commerce. The fish's distinctive spot, seen on males, is blue across the edge (though it seems to be purple within the photograph) with pink and yellow stripes within the heart.
"The spot on the males is paying homage to President Obama's marketing campaign emblem," mentioned Pyle. "It appeared particularly acceptable for a fish named in honor of the president."
The 2 different species within the genus Tosanoides reside within the tropical northwestern Pacific Ocean, distant from the monument. [StarStruck: Species Named After Celebrities]
"The brand new fish is particular as a result of it's the solely recognized species of coral-reef fish endemic to the monument [meaning that the species is found nowhere else on Earth]," mentioned examine co-author Randall Kosaki, a NOAA scientist and chief scientist of the analysis cruise. "Our analysis has documented the best price of fish endemism on the planet — 100 p.c — residing on the deep reefs the place we discovered this new species."
Kosaki added, "With the onslaught of local weather change, we're liable to dropping a few of these undiscovered species earlier than we even know they exist."
The primary documented Tosanoides obama on report, alive in a holding tank aboard the NOAA ship Hello'ialakai.
Credit score: Richard L. Pyle Bishop MuseumT. obama is the second new fish species found in Papahānaumokuākea this yr. In August, Pyle and Kosaki revealed a examine within the journal ZooKeys describing a brand new species of butterflyfish (Prognathodes basabei).
T. obama can also be the newest of an extended line of recent species named for the 44th president of america. As an illustration, there is a new species of lichen named after him (Caloplaca obamae) and a trapdoor spider (Aptostichus barackobamai). However Obama is not the one politician to be honored on this method. In 2005, researchers named newfound species of slime-mold beetles after President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Protection Donald Rumsfeld (Agathidium bushi, A. cheneyi and A. rumsfeldi), and an extinct large sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) is called in honor of Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president.
The examine was revealed on-line at present (Dec. 21) within the journal ZooKeys.
Authentic article on Reside Science.
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