It’s official. The smooth hand fish ( Sympterichthys unipennis ) has been declared extinct by the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature . It was a rare species with bulging eyes that could “walk” on its pectoral and pelvic fins and that inhabited the coast of Tasmania.
A grim milestone, as it is the first modern marine fish to completely disappear . Just 200 years ago, this fish was very abundant in Australia and even in 1802, the French naturalist François Péron caught the first specimen with a diving net in southeastern Tasmania.
Now, Péron’s specimen is the only one that scientists have been able to study because “it has not been sighted for more than 200 years.”
With the extinction of the smooth handfish, only 13 other species of handfish remain. They all live on the seabed, where they use hand-shaped fins to “walk.” It is a species that does not support changes, its habitat is reduced and if it is altered, they have nowhere to go.
According to the IUCN, the biggest threats from these fish are fishing, pollution, the spread of the invasive North Pacific starfish (Asterias amurensis ) and habitat destruction.
The organization Fauna & Flora International , dedicated to protecting our planet from threats to wildlife and habitats, states that the seabed and the species that live on it sustain a “blue” economy, but we treat it as if it were indestructible, with the risk of a widespread collapse of marine systems. “Fish like this are the lifeblood of our ocean ; we need to prioritize efforts to address the impacts of destructive fishing practices to ensure that other species do not share their fate ”.
Reference: IUCN / Fauna & Flora International
