New Delhi: To honor President Obama's decision to create world's largest marine reservoir, three scientists sent their warm thanks by naming a newly discovered fish species after him.
According to National Geographic, the maroon and gold creature, which was discovered 300 feet deep in the waters off Kure Atoll, is the only known fish to live within Papahānaumokuākea, an expanse of coral reefs and seamounts home to more than 7,000 species.
This tiny fish is dubbed as Tosanoides Obama and it will join the the Etheostoma Obama, a freshwater darter native to the Tennessee River and the first species named after President Obama.
Scientists spotted this fish in June this year near on a research trip to Kure, the world’s northernmost atoll.
The species is found only within the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, a World Heritage site encompassing 1,510,000 square kilometres of ocean waters, including ten islands and atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Richard Pyle, a marine biologist at the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, was underwater when he first saw a group of fish he did not recognize.
He collected a male specimen for further analysis. The female specimen was collected a few days later by Bishop Museum affiliate Brian Greene at an atoll about 249 km from Kure.Researchers confirmed that the fish represented a new species, the first member of the genus Tosanoides found outside of the waters off Japan.
(With PTI inputs)
