Scientist David Harasti always knew what he would name the small orange creature he first encountered during a dive in Papua New Guinea back in 2003.
It took another twenty years for Harasti and his partner Graham Short to rediscover the elusive fish, study it thoroughly, and officially classify it as a new species.
Introducing Solenostomus snuffleupagus, aptly named after the popular Sesame Street character, Mr. Snuffleupagus.
“We affectionately call it Snuffy,” shared Short, an expert in fish studies at the California Academy of Sciences and the Australian Museum, in an interview with As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal. “The resemblance is striking.”
Short and Harasti recently authored a fresh study, published in the Fish Biology journal, detailing S. snuffleupagus as a novel species of ghost pipefish that thrives around coral reefs, camouflaging itself as red algae.
‘The Remarkable Influence of Natural Selection’
The fish shares several traits with its namesake, including its orange-brown hue, long filaments resembling shaggy hair, and an elephant-like snout.
Milton Love, a marine biologist at the Marine Science Institute of the University of California in Santa Barbara, emphasized that the fish’s puppet-like appearance showcases “the remarkable influence of natural selection.”
“Undoubtedly, the appealing morphological features serve a purpose for the creature,” Love expressed via email, although not directly involved in the study.
“Alternatively, one could hypothesize that Gaia created this fish after indulging in one too many rum beverages with miniature umbrellas.”
The resemblance to Snuffleupagus goes beyond the surface.
Similar to Mr. Snuffleupagus, the fish is exceptionally elusive. In early episodes of Sesame Street, Mr. Snuffleupagus was only seen by Big Bird, leading others to question his existence.
Harasti and Short spent years searching for another snuffy fish after the initial 2003 encounter, without success.
In 2021, luck finally favored them when fellow scuba divers began spotting the tiny creatures on the Great Barrier Reef and reached out. The scientists promptly traveled to Australia, and on their second dive, they rediscovered the fish.
“To say we were ecstatic underwater would be an understatement,” Short recalled. “We celebrated, embraced, and were truly thrilled.”
A Tiny Carnivore
To describe the fish and validate it as a previously unknown species, the researchers examined CT scans of specimens collected in 1993 during an expedition to the far north of Queensland, Australia, in the Torres Strait.
Short mentioned that these specimens were among
