tiny fish from Endau-Rompin!!!

[kuching]

From "The Star" newspaper today:

The exciting discovery of new flora and fauna in the Foja Mountains of Indonesia recently has raised the possibility of similar finding in the Endau-Rompin National Park bordering Johor and Pahang.

Local biodiversity and environment expert Vincent Chow said he was highly optimistic of such discoveries in the 250-million-year-old nature reserve because only 10% of the area was studied by the scientific community.

“We found 92 freshwater species previously unknown in the park,” he said.

Among the findings that took the scientific community by surprise was the discovery of a 2cm transparent ancient fish by his team and an expert from the United States.

“Prof Tyson Robert from the American Academy of Science, a renowned South-East Asia freshwater fish expert, had concurred that the species found by our group can be categorised as primitive or fossil fishes,” said Chow.


The American expert said the fish at one time lived in the Sunda River that existed 15,000 years ago when the South China Sea area was a land mass.


MORE on this link:

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story...sec=southneast

[hwchoy]

I would caution being too excited about such news. 15,000 years is not a long time for evolution and of course all the fishes once lived in this Sunda River then. Newspaper doesn't know enough not to sensationalise.

also the "92-species" should be new-record for the locality and not undescribed species, thought I want to point it out before people get the wrong impression.

more interesting is this "2cm transparent ancient fish". perhaps a micro-bonytongue as the bonytongue is regarded as an ancient fish group. Who is that American expert? Tyson Robert?

[hwchoy]

turned out the "2cm transparent ancient fish" is actually the Sundasalanx.