You might better know Mr. Snuffleupagus as the gigantic puppet elephant from Sesame Street with absolutely gorgeous eyelashes. His iconic, thick, woolly hair has now inspired the naming of a significantly smaller creature. According to a study published in the Journal of Fish Biology, detailed by Scientific American, researchers have officially identified a new species of ghost pipefish called Solenostomus snuffleupagus, a cute little fish that looks like a disheveled Ronald McDonald wig floating in the sea.
It’s a Snuffleupa-fish, if you will.
The tiny little guy was first spotted in 2003 near Papua New Guinea by marine biologist David Harasti, who immediately figured it was a previously undiscovered species. The problem was finding it for a second time. Harasti kept coming back to that spot over and over again for two decades, and didn’t find it again, not even once. Eventually, divers near the Great Barrier Reef helped the research team find the little critter again in 2022.
Who Knows What other sesame street-ish creatures are Hiding Down There
If, like me, you immediately assumed it was some kind of seahorse, you are partially correct, as ghost pipefish were close relatives of seahorses. They are known for their ability to camouflage so well that they can seemingly vanish among coral reefs, thanks to all that fuzzy, orangey-red filament covering their bodies, making them look a lot like floating algae.
Using CT scans and genetic analysis, the researchers were able to confirm that it was indeed a new species. What separates it from other ghost pipefish, when it branched off evolutionarily about 18 million years ago, is that it has more vertebrae than your run-of-the-mill ghost pipefish.
Our oceans are vast and filled with an untold number of creatures we’ve yet to identify, and probably several that we’ve never even seen before. Unfortunately, there’s only a limited number of Sesame Street character names to dish out.
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