A rare fish that can walk around at the bottom of the sea with hand-like flippers has been discovered.
A remarkable fish that can walk with hand-like flippers has been caught on camera.
The footage shows the red handfish lying on the ocean floor.
It uses its two fins to walk on the surface as if they were hands.
There were only thought to be around 20-40 fish remaining, off the coast of Tasmania.
But, last month, scientists from the region found a new group – which included the creature seen in the video.
Divers from the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) launched a search mission using third-hand GPS coordinates after a tip-off from a member of the public.
“Just by chance, I saw the end of a tail of a red handfish hidden under some algae and that was it,” IMAS diver Antonia Cooper said.
“We were diving for approximately three and a half hours and at about the two-hour mark we were all looking at each other thinking this is not looking promising.
“My dive partner went to tell the other divers that we were going to start heading in and I was half-heartedly flicking algae around when, lo and behold, I found a red handfish.
“Finding a new population that is definitely distinct from the existing one is very exciting.
“It means there's potentially a bigger gene pool and also that there are potentially other populations out there that we're yet to find, so it's very exciting indeed.”
There are believed to be a further 20-40 handfish at the undisclosed location, effectively doubling the creature’s population.
Source: Daily Star UK