As a pretty major fish geek (kinda goes with the dive-shop-owner- territory), he thought he'd come close on a couple of occasions. But, as you're probably already aware, you still wont find the Dory or the Doris fish anywhere other than here at The Dive Bus.
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| Mark trying to sneak on board the sub. (Not very well.) |
Each summer for the past few years, Smithsonian scientists head to Curacao for several weeks, to spend their days hanging out on Curacao's reefs in a small, orange submarine, at depths up to 600 feet.
Hosted by the good people at Substation Curacao, the scientists' mission is to discover new marine life forms. And our wonderfully talented buddy, Barry Brown, has the honor of photographing these discoveries.
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| (How cool are this? We're so proud of Mr Brown!) |
Barry's photos are so beautiful that ten of them were released as a beautiful collection of stamps , as a "tribute to the outstanding collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and Substation Curacao." (More info here.)
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| More info here |
The latest clever scientists' discovery is their fourth new deep-reef fish species in two years: this cute little Goby. In recognition of the little sub that could (and still, quite clearly, can!), the new find has been named Coryphopterus curasub.
The Curasub goby is different in size and colouring from the rest of his family members. And since he likes to hang out at around 70-80 meters, unfortunately, not many of us regular divin' folk are likely to meet him whilst out and about on the Curacao reef.
Many congrats and thanks to all involved in this latest find - looking forward to hearing about the next new discovery. Perhaps they'll call that one Dory or Doris..?
Mark hanging out on the Curasub - STILL didn't find new fish species...
