Researchers discover new species of fish off Dingle coast

The newly discovered fish species Microichthys grandis, 'big little fish'.

A new species of fish has been discovered off the coast of Ireland in what is being described as a "rare event". 

The Microichthys grandis, which translate literally to ‘big little fish’, is around five centimeters in length but is larger than any of its relatives.

Marine researchers made the discovery during a survey of the Irish coast lines last year, with the new species being discovered at Porcupine Bank Canyon, which is 324km off the coast of Dingle.

One reason the fish had not been noticed before is that it measures only 5.5cm, making it easy to slip through the meshes of a net or be overlooked when caught

The discovery was made as part of a joint mission by the Natural History Museum Stuttgart (SMNS) and Wageningen Marine Research (WMR).

Researcher Bram Couperus of WMR spoke of his delight at the discovery, saying that finding new fish in the north east of the Atlantic Ocean is a "rare event."

WMR scientist Bram Couperus

He explained: "It has not occurred before in the history of our institute, founded in the 1950s. This fish was caught in an area where there is a lot of fishing, especially by Dutch fishers. One would therefore expect the species to have been caught before. If this is the case, at least it escaped attention – until last year."

The new fish species was noticed last year in the catch during the blue whiting survey, a survey conducted annually to assess blue whiting stocks in European waters

Fish taxonomist Ronald Fricke said that the new species is related to three other specimens.

He explained: "They are free-swimming in deep water and only a handful of specimens is known to science. The discovery of the new species off Ireland is very exciting, as it seems closer related to a Mediterranean species from Sicily, than to the other Atlantic species from the Azores."