Australasian fishes
Another one!
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In March we posted a journal entry (view it) about observations of the rarely encountered Benham's Streamerfish, Agrostichthys parkeri. Since uploading that story another specimen has been observed.
The observation was uploaded by Jaco Grundling (@jacog) who stated, "One of the locals (Samantha Bell) at Mākara Beach spotted the fish when out walking with her dog at Fisherman's Bay. She posted in our local community Facebook page looking for an ID. I thought our best bet finding out what she found was adding it to iNaturalist and linking it to the Australasian Fishes Project. From what she said the fish was about 2m long and still alive when she observed it. It went on land by itself where she observed its tail detach which suggested that it might have been attacked. It eventually writhed back towards the water and entered the shallows."
If this was a contest, New Zealand would be leading 2 to 1. Benham's Streamerfish is a cool water species that is found right around the New Zealand coastline, but in Australian waters is only known from Tasmania and southern Victoria. It would be interesting to see more observations of Benham's Streamerfish. Come on you Cabbage Patchers and Taswegians, you can't let the kiwis outdo you. :)
