Scientists have discovered a fish living in forest swamps on the Indonesian island of Sumatra that is only 7.9mm long.
The species of fish belongs to the carp family and is called Paedocypris progenetica . It is the world's smallest vertebrate or backboned animal.
World's smallest vertebrate is a member of the carp family of fish. © Maurice Kottelat, Cornol /Raffles Museum
Living in acid
The tiny, see-through Paedocypris fish have the appearance of larvae and have a reduced head skeleton, which leaves the brain unprotected by bone.
They live in dark tea-coloured waters with an acidity of pH3, which is at least 100 times more acidic than rainwater.
'This is one of the strangest fish that I've seen in my whole career', said Ralf Britz, zoologist at the Natural History Museum.
'It's tiny, it lives in acid and it has these bizarre grasping fins. I hope we'll have time to find out more about them before their habitat disappears completely.'
The species of fish belongs to the carp family and is called Paedocypris progenetica . It is the world's smallest vertebrate or backboned animal.
World's smallest vertebrate is a member of the carp family of fish. © Maurice Kottelat, Cornol /Raffles Museum
Living in acid
The tiny, see-through Paedocypris fish have the appearance of larvae and have a reduced head skeleton, which leaves the brain unprotected by bone.
They live in dark tea-coloured waters with an acidity of pH3, which is at least 100 times more acidic than rainwater.
'This is one of the strangest fish that I've seen in my whole career', said Ralf Britz, zoologist at the Natural History Museum.
'It's tiny, it lives in acid and it has these bizarre grasping fins. I hope we'll have time to find out more about them before their habitat disappears completely.'
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