After 20 years, a fish that is critically endangered makes a comeback on an Australian beach

Strange species known as “handfish” are noted for utilizing their hands instead of fins, as other fish do. Seven of the 14 species of this uncommon fish are found only in the seas between Tasmania and the Bass Strait. These unusual fish were last seen more than 20 years ago, according to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). However, recent findings made by Kerri Yare, an Australian, while jogging along a beach at Primrose Sands, Tasmania, Australia, have given reason for optimism. The species was previously thought to be extinct in the area, but this discovery is driving greater investigation down the coastline to find more of these critters.

According to the lady who found it, “I’m always interested in any wildlife I see when jogging. It seemed to be a little pufferfish or toadfish, which I had seen a lot of, but as I peered closer, I could make out its tiny hand-shaped fins hidden behind a coating of sand. Undoubtedly, it was a “wow moment.”

Even CSIRO posted a video of the animal on Twitter with the caption “Spotted: a handfish. Last weekend, a runner in Tasmania discovered a Brachionichthys hirsutus, a severely endangered spotted handfish. Sadly, the fish was dead, but it is fascinating proof that a population that we had believed to be locally extinct since 2005 is still alive.

Carlie Devine, a research worker at CSIRO, shared important information and said that there are just 2,000 of these animals remaining in the globe. It was thought that the spotted handfish population at Primrose Sands was vanished until the most recent finding. A few years ago, they even undertook searches, but they turned up nothing, leading to the notion that they had vanished. However, this latest discovery has given them newfound hope and encouraged them to carry out more searches in the area.

They are elusive and scarce. Spotted handfish were common until the 1990s. There are currently just nine isolated populations as a result of the population’s separation. We now understand the need of yearly site monitoring. Over a 60-minute dive, we may only encounter one or two fish, and perhaps none. About 2,000 spotted handfish are thought to still exist in the wild, she said.

There are a number of steps being taken to save the species from becoming extinct entirely, including the creation of artificial habitats in places where the fish’s natural habitats have been damaged or destroyed. Additionally, their tanks are kept with a “insurance population” of these species. As a result, they may reproduce and baby handfish are kept secure until they mature. Carlie promises that the fish will return to the waterways after the construction in an effort to increase population levels.

Moreover, Kerri Yarre decided to return the handfish back into the sea when she encountered it since she was unsure of what to do with it, according to Carlie Devine.