Scientists form Taiwan and the US have discovered five new species of tonguefish in the shallow waters of the Indo-Pacific region, the Council of Agriculture’s Fisheries Research Institute said.
Senior technical specialist Lee Mao-ying (李茂熒) and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researcher Thomas Munroe made the discoveries together, the institute said in a statement on Thursday.
Their study — published in September last year in the journal Zootaxa — showed that shallow-water tonguefish, in the genus Symphurus, consist of multiple species of flatfish instead of just one as previously thought, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Fisheries Research Institute
Eighty-one tonguefish species have been identified, but it is likely that other unknown flatfish species exist, the institute said.
Lee began researching the subject as a doctoral candidate in 2007, after finding hundreds of small fish in a pile of bycatch at Pingtung County’s Donggang Wharf (東港漁港), it said.
While the fish were initially identified as immature S orientalis, an inspection of their anatomy and a molecular analysis proved the assumption wrong, the statement quoted Lee as saying.
From 2008 to 2016, Lee examined 450 flatfish specimens in museums in Europe, Japan and the US, while additional samples gathered from bycatch in harbors across Taiwan were profiled genetically, he said.
The work resulted in the discovery of S hongae, which Lee first found at the warf, S brachycephalus from Vietnam, S leptosomus from the Philippines, S polylepis from Papua New Guinea and S robustus from Japan, he said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
RSS