After almost 30 years with a “false” identity, they discover a new rainbow fish in the Maldives

Among the waters and colorful corals of the Maldives, a glowing fish with the colors of the rainbow became the first to be named and described by a Maldivian researcher. The Maldives is a nation of small islands, located about 800 kilometers south of India. The archipelago has the seventh largest coral reef system on the planet.

The discovery of this new colorful fish is known as the rose-veiled fairyfish, “Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa”, it gets its name in the local language Dhivehi. Finifenmaa means “rose” and is a tribute to the national pink flower of the islands, as well as the color of the fish.

“It has always been foreign scientists who have described the species found in the Maldives without much involvement of local scientists,” said Ahmed Najeeb, a biologist at the Maldives Marine Research Institute (MMRI), who authored the name of the fish. “This time it's different and being part of something for the first time has been really exciting, especially having the opportunity to work together with the best ichthyologists (fish biologists) on such an elegant and beautiful species.”

The fish has a history of failed identity as it had been first found in the 1990s, but by that time, researchers thought it was an adult belonging to Cirrhilabrus rubrisquamis, the red velvet fairyfish.

But the new fish, with the colors of the rainbow, became known after researchers re-examined Cirrhilabrus rubrisquamis, and they found two different species. The differences between the two species are subtle, such as the height of the spines and the number of scales in different parts of the body, but DNA analysis confirmed that these two species are genetically different.

They found that C. finifenmaa females, which are mainly red, pink and blue, were very similar to C. rubrisquamis. However, adult males are not, as they have a unique color pattern that includes bright magenta, pastel orange, orange-pink and dark purple-red.

In addition, the study revealed that C. finifenmaa has a much smaller geographical range than C. rubrisquamis, which means that conservation efforts must be increased to protect the species.

However, researchers suspect that the population of C. finifenmaa in Maldives may be in danger of decreasing. Local fishermen have long sought C. rubrisquamis for sale in the world aquarium trade, generating around $330 million each year, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. Because the two species of labrids are so similar, C. finifenmaa can also be affected by such activities.

Although it has just been discovered, scientists say that the pink veiled fairyfish is already being exploited through the aquarium amateur trade.

“Although the species is quite abundant and therefore not currently at high risk of overexploitation, it is disturbing when a fish is already marketed before it has a scientific name,” says lead author and curator of ichthyology at the Luiz Rocha Academy and researcher at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. “It talks about how much biodiversity remains to be described in coral reef ecosystems,” he said.

The twilight zone of the ocean where this species was observed exists at a depth of between 35-70 meters, where there is still enough light for some life to exist before the water turns into complete darkness.

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