Comments

  1. Jim H says

    The intelligent designer must not have been very happy with that design.

    The scary thing is – Think how many species are going extinct that we haven’t and won’t ever discover.

  4. FishyFred says

    Reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns is trying to woo a young lady. He utilizes a rare aphrodisiac that was extracted from the pockets of a pocket fox, “a rare species that only existed for three weeks in the 16th century.”

  5. SEF says

    It’s the Vogons and the jewelled crabs all over again – except that humans don’t even have to do it on purpose.

  6. says

    Hi,

    Just to clarify a few things. The researchers previously found Paedocypris sp. in a few locations in West Malaysia, which have since been ‘developed.’ The last known habitat (in peat swamps in North Selangor state) is in a very bad shape and the fish has not been found there in recent times.

    However, Paedocypris progenetica is still found in Jambi, Sumatra, whereas the slightly larger P. micromegethes is still alive in Sarawak state in East Malaysia (Borneo).

    It is not clear whether the West Malaysia Paedocypris belongs to the same species as the Sumatran one. It seems likely though, as many peat swamp endemics (e.g. Betta coccina, Sphaerichthys osphromenoides) are found on both sides of the Malaccan Straits, which was inundated by the South China Sea in very recent times geologically.

    Peat swamp habitats in West Malaysia (especially along the West Coast) are probably the most highly threatened, as vast tracts are being converted into economically productive oil palm plantations or industrial areas. These habitats have received sadly relatively little conservation attention compared to rainforests proper or non-peaty wetlands due to the misperception that they are species (and endemics) poor. However, more recent surveys are yielding signs that the swamps’ specific environment has generated high degrees of endemicity which has been overlooked for sheer lack of data and taxonomical work (many peat swamp fishes with very localised distributions remain undescribed).

    A few of us here in this region, especially researchers at the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (http://www.dbs.nus.edu.sg/biodiversitii/bio/aquaindex2.htm), are trying to share the biodiversity treasures and ecological value of peat swamps to the public and media, but the prevailing sentiment (especially in the ranks of policy makers) is that peat swamps are ‘wastelands.’ Consequently, they are often drained, a practice that results in greater economic costs as the remaining layers of peat dry up and become a tinderbox that easily ignites and consumes nearby settlements.

    Links to peat swamps information and publications:

    http://www.wetlands.org/Malaysia/En/publications.aspx
    http://www.wetlands.org/listmenu.aspx?id=b617c885-f1b1-41b9-a404-c16f45ed272a