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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

Scientists are considering a captive breeding program to ensure the survival of an enigmatic little sea floor walking fish [smh.com.au] found only in Hobart's Derwent estuary.

Once widespread globally, the finger-sized spotted handfish is now confined to the Tasmanian waterway and may need an insurance population after recent surveys found its numbers were at dangerously low levels.

CSIRO senior research scientist Tim Lynch says the first complete survey of handfish colonies, an exhaustive run of 100 transects this winter in bone-chilling Derwent waters, found a total of just 79 fish.

The creature looks like something straight out of Dr. Seuss. On a different note, what is it [wikipedia.org] about Tasmania and extinctions [wikipedia.org]?

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