New species of scorpionfish found in Caribbean Sea

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — Scientists have discovered a new species of the vibrantly coloured scorpionfish in the Caribbean Sea.

The bright orange-red fish was found at depth of 95 to 160 metres (310 to 525 feet) in waters close to Curaçao.

The fish, which is the deepest-living member of its genus in the western Atlantic Ocean, was discovered using a manned submersible — the Curasub, operated by the Smithsonian Institute’s Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP).

According to a new study published in

ZooKeys, conventional scuba divers cannot go beyond depths of 30 to 50 metres below the water surface, but Curasub can go up to 300 metres and is used by marine scientists to study the lesser-known tropical marine fishes and invertebrates occurring at those depths.

“The 50-300 metre tropical ocean zone is poorly studied — too deep for conventional scuba and too shallow to be of much interest to really deep-diving submersibles,” said Carole C Baldwin, lead scientist of DROP. “The Curasub is providing scientists with the technology needed to remedy this gap in our knowledge of Caribbean reef biodiversity.”

The scientists have named the newly discovered scorpionfish

Scorpaenodes barrybrowni in honour of freelance photographer Barry Brown, who “has patiently, diligently, and expertly taken photographs of hundreds of -read more