The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) has found a remarkable community secretly living in Fiordland. They are distinctly fishy, and include some species completely unknown to science.
It is only a glimpse, but it is the first anyone has seen a newly-discovered type of rockfish, dubbed the 'traffic-light' because of its green, yellow and red colourings.
Found in the darkness 200m below the surface of Fiordland, no one was aware of its existence until last month. Now scientists are excited at the prospect of other discoveries just waiting to be made.
"Almost certainly more to be found," says Niwa scientist Don Robertson. "If we find this much just looking at a very small area, then we can certainly expect to find quite a lot more."
Niwa and Dept of Conservation (DoC) scientists have surveyed creatures in water 40m deep in Doubtful and Dusky Sounds in the past, and they did not really expect to find much on the steep rock walls five times as deep. But using a submersible camera they found a treasure trove of discoveries that proved that theory wrong.
"Most biologists find it exciting even if there isn't new stuff there," says Mr Robertson. "It's still exciting working with things that you've found before, but it's an added bonus if you're finding new material, things that have never been described or seen before."
Some of the pictures have been sent to California for analysis and the findings will be used to help DoC manage the fiord's marine environment.
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