For the first clip , a new pigmy pipehorse species has been found in the waters of New Zealand – and in another world first , it has been given a Māori name . This is thought to be the first clip an autochthonous group has been involved in the schematic scientific assignment of a new creature mintage .
Described in the journalIchthyology and Herpetology , the midget confect cane - like pipehorse , a relation of bothseahorsesand pipefish , has been namedCylix tupareomanaiaby generator Graham Short and Dr Thomas Trnski , in collaboration with kaumātua ( elderly leaders ) of Ngātiwai . Found primarily within Ngātiwai ’s rohe ( customary dominion ) , Short and Trnski draw exit the leaders to share in the naming of an animate being Modern to skill but long know to their iwi .
The new genus name , Cylix , come from the Greek and Latin Scripture for chalice or loving cup , due to the cupful - like crest on the top of its head not catch in any other pygmy pipehorses . The coinage name , tupareomanaia , or Tu Pare o Manaia , translates as “ the garland of the Manaia . ” Manaia is the Māori name for a sea horse , combine with the location where the type sample distribution was found , Tu Pare o Huia ( Home Point ) , near Whangaruru on Aotearoa New Zealand ’s North Island . The pare , or garland , also refers to the crest on the pipehorse ’s head .
“ I feel inside that we have been able-bodied to comprise mātauranga Māori [ knowledge ] in the naming ofCylix tupareomanaiaand collaborate with Ngātiwai for this taonga [ treasure ] of the ocean , ” allege Dr Trnski , capitulum of Natural Sciences at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland Museum , in astatement .
Growing up to just 6 centimetre ( 2.36 inches ) , about the sizing of your little finger , and coming in a motley of colour , the manaia pygmy pipehorse ( as it will be normally known ) is adept at hiding in the ok seaweed of the bouldered reef of the north - east glide .
ab initio spotted by divers in the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve around a X ago , it was mistaken for another seahorse specie until 2017 when lensman Crispin and Irene Middleton mentioned they had find this new specimen to Short , a inquiry familiar at the California Academy of Sciences and Australian Museum , and he recognized it as new .
" I grow very activated since it was my fortune to in good order calculate at it . So with the help of Tom Trnski of the Auckland Museum , we obtain the specimen and after take it under the microscope I knew right away it was not a seahorse but a new mintage and genus of pygmy pipehorse , " Short tell apart IFLScience .
" pigmy pipehorses and seahorses are superficially similar in appearance in have an angled head and covetous tail . However , they differ in many ways but principally in the way the head look . Most pygmy pipehorses have a prominent bony ridge on their head whereas seahorse have a distinct bony coronet on their head . The fresh species has a distinct bony coronet on its header as well … However , CT scans of the emaciated structure of the psyche unveil that the coronet is formed by completely different bones than those in seahorses . "
Excitingly , it ’s not just a new pygmy pipehorse , but the first - ever found in New Zealand amnionic fluid .
" In neighbor Australia , they have five species of pygmy pipehorses where fish multifariousness in this family ( Syngnathidae ) is quite high , " Short added . " So , New Zealand gets its own Modern mintage of Pigmy pipehorse not find anywhere else . Also , this is a unexampled genus of pygmy pipehorse not plant in Australia , which get it even more special . "
respect the manaia Pigmy pipehorse ’s singular location , Short and Trnski decided this was an chance to approach the Ngātiwai kaumātua for a name . The Manaia is a tupuna ( ancestor ) , a defender figure often found in Māori sculpture and jewellery .
“ The appointment of this taonga is pregnant to Ngātiwai as we know there are stories from our tupuna about this species , but the original name has been lose as a outcome of the negative impacts of colonisation , ” Ngātiwai kaumātua Hori Parata said . “ We are proud of to have gifted this species a unexampled name that asserts the mana of Ngātiwai and would like to thank the kaumātua for their involvement in this very special piece of work . ”
