SCOTLAND = A tiny fish the size of a grain of pudding rice has been found in Scottish waters for the first time. Guillet's goby, which is Europe's smallest marine fish, was discovered by independent marine biologists Rachel Hope and Dr Richard Shucksmith while scuba diving in the Lunna Pensinsula off the coast of Shetland.
The fish has only been recorded in British waters three times - in the south of England.
The discovery, published in the journal Marine Biodiversity Records, is the most northerly record of the fish and extends the goby's range by 140 miles.
Marine biology graduate Ms Hope, who carries out environmental work for fish farms on Shetland, spotted a pair of the tiny fish while on a dive in July and immediately realised they were unusual. "I took a picture and went home and looked through all of my books but couldn't find it anywhere," she said. "That's when I realised it was very rare. When I found I couldn't identify it from my guides, I contacted the authors and asked them for their help."
She added: "It was very exciting. There are very few images of the fish in existence, so ours looks like it has become the one everyone will use from now on."
The fish, which only grows to a maximum of 24mm and was first spotted in 1971, was formally identified with the help of a group of scientists with knowledge of unusual marine species, including goby expert Dr Lin Baldock and Dr Marcelo Kovacic of the Natural History Museum, Rijeka, Croatia who found the Guillet's goby in the Adriatic Sea.
Until its discovery off Shetland, the most northerly record of the fish was made in the Kattegat, the area of sea between Sweden and Denmark. "It never crossed our minds that we would find such a rare fish or that it would be Europe's smallest marine fish," added Dr Shucksmith.
Ms Hope said she believed one of the fish may have been preganant, as it appeared fatter than its mate, which could help establish a population of the Guillet's goby in the area. "It was also in a kind of tiny building which may have been a nest," added Ms Hope. "We have been back four times and have seen the fish on three of those occasions.
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