A woman found a bizarre sea creature on a beach in Far North Queensland, Australia. The animal left some astounded as they weren't familiar with it.
Bizarre Worm-Like Fish in Australia
The netizens shared a snap of the worm-like creature on Facebook to help her figure out what it was. She asked the other users on the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria page for suggestions to identify the creature.
Many were left scratching their heads in the comment section. However, some suggested that it was probably an eel. Another said that it was a Goa'uld Symbiote. Another agreed and speculated it traveled through the wormhole. A different user jokingly made a Stargate reference.
Associate Professor Ian Tibbetts with the University of Queensland told Yahoo! News Australia that the rare find is a blind goby fish called Tripauchena. According to him, they live in burrows, lacking pigment and having lots of blood to obtain oxygen.
He added that he has no references, but many things burrowed in mud must get as much oxygen as possible.
Ichthyologist Jeff Johnson from the Queensland Museum told the outlet that it's a fish that belongs to the worm gobies group and specifically appears to be the Comb Goby, Paratrypauchen microcephalus.
According to him, these burrowers can be found in the surface's muddy or fine silty substrate. They typically have bright pink or red skin because their bodies have a lot of tiny blood arteries near the surface.
In an environment where it is challenging to receive oxygen via their gills, they can absorb it via their skin. He added that they consume tiny benthic crustaceans.
Johnson said the fish can be found as far south as Moreton Bay in Queensland throughout northern Australia.
What Is Comb Goby?
The generic name is derived from the Greek Para, meaning beside or near, alluding to the similarity with Trypauchen. It is native to the marine and brackish waters of the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean.
The species can grow up to 18 centimeters. The local commercial fisheries and the aquarium trade have a limited need for this species.
It is the only species of its genus that is known to exist. Paratrypauchen microcephalus has been found in muddy, soft-bottomed places, estuaries, and along river mouths near mangroves, where it lives in deep tunnels in the mud. If they dig the burrows themselves is unknown. This species consumes crustaceans and other benthic invertebrates, according to iNaturalist.ca.
Per Fish Base, the animal is distributed to Indo-West Pacific from Natal to Kenya, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It is also known from Wakayama, Niigata, Kumamoto Prefecture (Japan), the Korean Peninsula, China, and Malaysia. It can also be found in Singapore and Mozambique.
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