Photo © Scripps Institute of Oceanagraphy
Scientists at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography discovered the ruby sea dragon through their study of their museum collections. Originally thought to be a variant of the common, or reedy, sea dragon, they discovered that it was in fact an entirely new species, through a combination of tissue samples and photographs of the original specimen, which had been lying dormant in the Western Australia Museum's archives since 1919.
You can read more details about the discovery here at Scripps' website.
Not only does this add to the already amazing biodiversity of our oceans, but it really hammers home the importance of maintaining a museum's collections. You never know what you might find the bowels of a museum's basement archives.
Also, have a video of leafy sea dragons on me:
You can read more details about the discovery here at Scripps' website.
Not only does this add to the already amazing biodiversity of our oceans, but it really hammers home the importance of maintaining a museum's collections. You never know what you might find the bowels of a museum's basement archives.
Also, have a video of leafy sea dragons on me:
