SYDNEY: After scouring several museum collections, a group of researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego recently discovered a new species of seadragon.
This new seadragon is only the third species of the creatures ever found. The other two species, leafy seadragons and common seadragons, vary in color from this new one, nicknamed the ruby seadragon, because of its bright shade of red.
Scientists discovered the new seadragon, whose official name is phyllopteryx dewysea, while comparing their analyses of tissue samples supplied by several museums to photographs of the ruby seadragon taken in the wild in 2007.
“We’re now in a golden age of taxonomy and these powerful DNA tools are making it possible for more new species than ever to be discovered,” says Greg Rouse, curator of the Scripps Benthic Invertebrate Collection. “That such large charismatic marine species are still being found is evidence that there is still much to be done.”
