Just when I thought they couldn’t get any smaller, come not one but two little midgets that put strain on both the eyes and the lower reaches of evolutionary possibilities for chordates...
Scientists have discovered a fish living in forest swamps on the Indonesian island of Sumatra that is only 7.9mm long.
More and more really tiny species are being discovered, like a 7.9mm fish in 2006 and a 7.7mm frog in 2011. There's increasing competition for the title of the 'world's smallest vertebrate', but exactly how do you determine what is the smallest?
Paedocypris progenetica is a species of tiny cyprinid fish endemic to the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Bintan where it is found in peat swamps and blackwater streams.[2] It was discovered by Singaporean ichthyologist Heok Hui Tan. He has written a description of the fish along with another species of the same genus called Paedocypris micromegethes.
It is one of the smallest known fish in the world, together with species such as Schindleria brevipinguis, with females reaching a maximum standard length of 10.3 mm (0.41 in), males 9.8 mm (0.39 in) and the smallest known mature specimen, a female, measuring only 7.9 mm (0.31 in).[3] It held the record for the shortest known vertebrate until the frog Paedophryne amauensis was formally described in January 2012, while the parasitic males of the anglerfish Photocorynus spiniceps are but 6.2 millimetres (0.24 in) long.[4]
Paedocypris progenetica is a species of tiny cyprinid fish endemic to the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Bintan where it is found in peat swamps and blackwater streams. It was discovered by Singaporean ichthyologist Heok Hui Tan. He has written a description of the fish along with another species of the same genus called Paedocypris micromegethes.
It is one of the smallest known fish in the world, together with species such as Schindleria brevipinguis, with females reaching a maximum standard length of 10.3 mm (0.41 in), males 9.8 mm (0.39 in) and the smallest known mature specimen, a female, measuring only 7.9 mm (0.31 in). It held the record for the shortest known vertebrate until the frog Paedophryne amauensis was formally described in January 2012, while the parasitic males of the anglerfish Photocorynus spiniceps are but 6.2 millimetres (0.24 in) long.