Named after a rose, a colourful fish from the Maldives is the pride of natives
After having been confused with an existing species, the rose-veiled fairy wrasse found off the coast of the scenic Maldives islands, has been recognised as a separate genus. An article in smithsonianmag.com stated this fish which lives in the range from 131 to 229 feet below the surface has a vivid red-orange colour on its face which becomes yellow and violet when nearing the tail.
The waters around the islands of Maldives boasts of species in hundreds but what makes the rose-veiled fairy wrasse or Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa, special is the fact that it is the first one to be described by a Maldivian scientist and that it has the singular distinction of having a scientific name derived from Dhivehi, a local language.
The species had to wait for a formal description and recognition as in the past it was mistaken for the red velvet fairy wrasse or Cirrhilabrus rubrisquamis.
The details of this new species have been published in ZooKeys, a journal.
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It was in the 1990s that this colourful fish was spotted by marine biologists and because of the confusion with a species of fish its scientific description did not take place as per a statement by the California Academy of Sciences. The narrative of C. rubrisquamis' the statement specified was on the basis of one juvenile specimen which had been collected in the Chagos Archipelago which is 621 miles south of the Maldives.
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