Divers in the tropical waters off Indonesia have found a new species of anglerfish that crawls rather than swims and has eyes similar to ours.

The small fish, sighted in the Indian Ocean off Ambon Island, has tan- and peach-colored zebra-striping, rippling folds of skin that obscure its fins, and eyes that face forward in the same way that human eyes do.

According to Ted Pietsch, professor of aquatic and fishery sciences at the College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences in Washington University, Seattle, this strange fish could represent an entirely unknown family of fishes.

Professor Pietsch has published 150 scholarly articles and several books on anglerfishes and is the world's leading authority on them. He said that finding new fish species is rare, and in the past half century scientists have described only five new families of fishes and none of them were even remotely related to anglerfishes.

Small Elusive Fish Hides in Crevices

Anglerfishes – also called by names like frogfishes and toadfishes – are found the world over and typically have lures growing from their foreheads that they wave or cause to wiggle in order to attract prey. Any curious creature that gets too close to the lure is snapped up for the fish's lunch.

The anglerfish found of Ambon Island has no lures so it seeks its prey differently, burrowing into crevices and cracks of the coral reefs in search of food.

The small fish, only about 6 inches long, looks like a modern glass sculpture, but is in fact very soft bodied and pliable enough to slip and slide into the narrow crevices of the reefs. That’s possibly the reason that they've gone unnoticed for so long.

It was spotted in Ambon harbour on January 28, by husband and wife dive team Buck and Fitrie Randolph and dive guide Toby Fadirsyair, all of Maluku Divers. They were able to take a photo of the fist-sized fish. Fadirsyair thought he had seen a similar specimen about 10 or 15 years ago, but the colouring was different.

A second adult fish was seen soon after, then two months later, at the end of March, two small juveniles were spotted off Ambon Island. Then in early April a mass of eggs laid by one of the adults was seen.

When only a single fish had been sighted, the Randolphs and Andy Shorten, co-owners of Maluku Divers, kept the find quiet to protect the animal. With more individuals being found, and having a better idea of where to look to find others, they posted images on their web site, and contacted Professor Pietsch to assist them to identify the fish, as they could not find it in any reference books.

A Rare Fish Find

"As soon as I saw the photo I knew it had to be an anglerfish because of the leglike pectoral fins on its sides," Professor Pietsch said.

"Only anglerfishes have crooked, leglike structures that they use to walk or crawl along the seafloor or other surfaces.”

This one, however, was different.

"I can say that in my 40 or so years studying frogfishes and anglerfishes in general, I have never seen one like this,” Professor Pietsch commented on the Maluku Divers website.

“Very striking is the highly unusual, flat face that allows the eyes to be directed forward, perhaps providing for binocular vision. The dorsal, anal, and caudal fins appear to be highly fleshy, covered by loose skin. Also, looking closely at the forehead, I can't see any trace of a luring apparatus.

“If I had to say what it's closest living relative might be, I'd suggest the genus Histiophryne, but this taxon differs in a host of other ways. In summary, it's quite unlike any antennarioid I've ever seen and most likely represents a genus new to science."

Habitats in Indo-Australian Waters

The fish were seen in 15 feet of water off Ambon Island. It's possible the fish could be found at other locations, Pietsch says. All other anglerfish families have ranges broader than a single island group and ocean conditions like those at Ambon are found at various places across Indo-Australian waters.

Andy Shorten said that although many divers will treat looking for the new anglerfish as a search for the Holy Grail, they don’t think that there are large numbers of the species. However, the more people looking, the more likely it is that more specimens will be found.

“For example, 35 years ago nobody realized pygmy seahorses existed but once they were discovered and people understood where to look for them, they turned out to be widespread throughout the ocean."

See also: Corals flourish on Bikini Atoll