A previously unidentified fish species has been named, and its origin has been traced to southern Taiwan following joint efforts between Taiwanese researchers and those at the Museum der Natur Hamburg in Germany.
The fish, which had been on display in the museum since 1907, was labeled “Takao, Formosa,” referring to Kaohsiung’s name during the Japanese colonial rule, University of Taipei Department of Earth and Life Science associate professor Liao Yun-chih (廖運志) said on Saturday.
A research team led by Chang Chih-wei (張至維) from the National Academy of Marine Research in 2023 worked with Ralf Thiel and other researchers from the museum, sampling and comparing different fish species to learn more about the species’ taxonomy, he said.
Photo courtesy of Liao Yun-chih
The researchers eventually learned that the fish was a previously unidentified species of estuary garfish, and it was named Zenarchopterus takaoensis, he said, adding that the researchers’ findings were published last year by peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa.
Liao thanked the Hamburg museum for providing specimen measurements and X-ray images, and for sending specimens to Taiwan so that he and Chang could examine and compare them in more detail.
The process highlighted the importance of museum specimen collections to scientific research, he said.
The fish, given the common name “Takao,” has a distinct needle-shaped lower jaw protruding from the front of its body like other garfish. Due to this prominent characteristic, garfish are commonly known as needlefish or sea needles, he said.
“It is a viviparous fish, meaning the male fish fertilizes the egg inside the female fish’s body. The embryo develops directly in the body, and the young fish can swim independently after birth,” he said.
“There are 19 known species of garfish in the world. Taiwan originally only recorded two species, but recent findings have shown four species indigenous to Taiwan,” he said.
American researcher Bruce Collette first noticed the Takao at the Hamburg museum in 1986, but was unable to identify its taxonomy at the time, he said.
“Subsequent research also failed to produce findings on the fish, as specimens were hard to collect, and the mangroves where the Takao was once distributed disappeared due to the Kaohsiung Port expansion project,” he said.
The research team set out in 2021 to gather specimens of the fish, but found they could not use nets due to the fish’s slender body. They later discovered that shreds of cod could be used as bait to catch the fish on a line, he said.
“In 2023, we finally caught seven of the fish in the mangroves near Dongshi Fishing Harbor in Chiayi County,” he said.
“We took tissue samples and conducted molecular identification, then compared the samples of similar fish species in Okinawa, Japan, and southwestern Taiwan, confirming that it was an unrecorded species.”
However, due to its small number, further research is needed to detail the fish’s distribution, he said.
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