MEET the newly discovered rainbow-colored fish named the rose-veiled fairy wrasse in the Maldives’ “twilight zone” reefs. According to a press release from the California Academy of Sciences, the fish can live 50 to 150 meters beneath the ocean’s surface in a “twilight zone” of unexplored coral ecosystems. Scientifically named Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa, it is the first new species to be named by a Maldivian researcher and one of the first species to have its name derived from Dhivehi language, the national language of the Maldives. “Nobody knows these waters better than the Maldivian people,” the academy’s curator of ichthyology Luiz Rocha said. “Our research is stronger when it’s done in collaboration with local researchers and divers.” The fish’s name is also a nod to the Maldives’ national flower, and the “finifenmaa” translates to “rose” for the pink color the fish illuminates. The rose-veiled fairy wrasse was first collected in the 1990s, but it was thought to be a version of a different species, Cirrhilabrus rubrisquamis, that sports similar colors and is found in the Maldives in the western Indian Ocean. A study published in ZooKeys debunked that thought. A collaboration between scientists from the California Academy of Sciences, the University of Sydney, the Maldives Marine Research Institute and the Field Museum studied both fish and did a genetic analysis to confirm the Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa is a new species. With its beautiful hues, the fish already was being exploited through the aquarium hobbyist trade before it was named a species. “Though the species is quite abundant and therefore not currently at a high risk of overexploitation, it’s still unsettling when a fish is already being commercialized before it even has a scientific name,” Rocha said in the release. In a survey last month, researchers found at least eight new species that have yet to be named along with new records of the rose-veiled fairy wrasse. The collaboration is a part of the California Academy of Science’s Hope for Reefs initiative, which hopes to better understand coral reefs and protect them around the world. (SD-Agencies) | 