Fish species found only in the Pacific, discovered in the Bay of Bengal

Context

Recently,  flower scorpionfish (Hoplosebastes Armatus), a unique, lesser-known fish species that was till now thought to be found only in the Pacific Ocean has been found in the Indian Ocean too. 

Key-points

• Hoplosebastes Armatus, also known as flower scorpionfish, belongs to the order of ray-finned fish that are also known as Scorpaeniforme. 
• The scorpionfish, discovered in 1929 in the sea from Japan, has now been found in Digha, West Bengal and Paradip in Odisha.
• These species were not found in the Indian Ocean. That is until two species of Hoplosebastes were collected by scientists from the Digha port in Pur Beng Medinipur in West Bengal in 2019.
• Two years after that discovery, scientists collected 22 more species in water from Paradip in the Odisha region of Jagatsinghpur on October 13, 2021.
• The length of the species ranged from 75-127 mm, and its body diameter ranged from 14-22 mm.
• The head of this species was relatively large and was larger than the body.
• New varieties of this type were indistinctly red, but alcoholic beverages were bright yellow and formalin varieties were brown.
• The specimen found from the Indian Ocean resembles PJ Schmidt’s specimen that was found in 1929. 
• But it differs in the presence of tentacles on the head, extensive spots on the fins, scale-less maxilla, number of spines on sub-orbital stray, etc.