AUSTRALIAN WERE EATING A UNNAMED FISH UNKNOWN TO SCIENCEA new grouper species have been discovered i

AUSTRALIAN WERE EATING A UNNAMED FISH UNKNOWN TO SCIENCE

Anew grouper species have been discovered in an Australian fish market, after a fisherman sent photos of a rare australian grouper to researchers at Queensland Museum, a fish which actually has been serverd as food.

The plain-looking fish it has no distinctive markings, and reaches at least 70 cm in length, but after Museum researchers purchased 5 individuals, and after molecular and morphological analyses, they prove it as a new species. Named as darkmargin grouper (Epinephelus fuscomarginatus), this species lives in deep water at 200 m below sea surface, off the southern end of the Swain Reefs, northeastern Australia.

- Photo: Preserved darkmargin grouper in the Queensland Museum.

The new species will now join 91 other species in the Epinephelus genus, which can be found in Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.

• Photos by  Queensland Museum
• Reference:Johnson and Worthington 2019, Epinephelus fuscomarginatus (Perciformes: Epinephelidae), a new species of grouper from off the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Zootaxa

[Photo description: an mature man holds a preserved darkmargin grouper in his hands, the second photo below shows a preserved darkmargin grouper on its side, the fish  is pale and plain with no marks]