Caught on film, that is. Sea Dragons are those cute little fish, cousins of the seahorse, who disguise themselves with elaborate fins that mimic the appearance of seaweed. For decades, scientists believed there were two species of Sea Dragons, the Common or Weedy Sea Dragon and the more flamboyant Leafy Sea Dragon.
A team including Greg Rouse, Josefin Stiller and Nerida Wilson was studying sea dragons at the Scripps Institution in San Diego, CA. Stiller realized that one specimen had been mistakenly identified. The preserved fish, from Australia, was not a Weedy Sea Dragon at all. It was red rather than brown and didn’t have the ornate fins.
This was something new. Together, Stiller and Wilson went through other Australian fish collections and found three more specimens. One of these was nearly 100 years old. Rouse’s team presented the Ruby Sea Dragon (Phyllopteryx dewysea) to the world in 2015, and began making plans to study them in the wild.
In 2017, the expedition yielded results! This article in the New York Times included footage of Ruby Sea Dragons at home in the sea. According to this account, Rouse’s team of researchers spent several days searching for their elusive quarry. Only on the very last day did they achieve their goal.
Because even a 9-inch-long dragon is sneaky like that.
Wyrmflight: A Hoard of Dragon Lore — $4.99 e-book or $17.99 trade paperback. Available at Amazon or Draft2Digital.