SKIRMISHER

The discovery of 52 new species of animals and plants — including some strange catfish with teeth and suction cups on its belly — in the southeast Asian island of Borneo brings the total number of newly identified living things to 400 since 1996.

Other creatures discovered between July 2005 and September 2006 were six Siamese fighting fish, whose unique colors and markings distinguish them from close relatives, and a tree frog with bright green eyes.

The catfish, which can be identified by its pretty color pattern, is named glyptothorax exodon, a reference to the teeth that can be seen even when the its mouth is closed. The suction cups on its belly enable it to stick to smooth stones while facing the current of Indonesia’s turbulent Kapuas River system.

On the Malaysian part of the island, slow-flowing blackwater streams and peat swamps are home to the paedocypris micromegethes, which is 0.35 inch long.

The creature, which gets its name from the Greek words for children and small, is tinier than all other vertebrate species on Earth except for its slightly more minuscule cousin, a 0.31-inch-long fish found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, according to WWF.

Keep in mind that these are living things that have been with us all along, we were not just aware of them. But thanks to humanity’s incessant onslaught on all things virginal, hopefully we can kill off thousands more of species before we even get to know them.

via AP

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