Schindleria facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Schindleria |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Schindleria macrodentata | |
Scientific classification  |
|
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Gobiiformes |
| Family: | Gobiidae |
| Genus: | Schindleria Giltay, 1934 |
| Type species | |
| Hemiramphus praematurus Schindler, 1930
|
|
| Species | |
|
See text. |
|
Schindleria is a group of tiny ocean fish. These fish are also known as infantfish. They get this name because they stay small and look like baby fish even when they are grown up.
Infantfish live in the southern Pacific Ocean. You can find them from the South China Sea all the way to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
What Are Infantfish?
Infantfish are special because they keep many features of their baby (larval) stage. This is called neoteny. Their bodies are long and clear, almost like glass! Many of their bones never fully grow.
Tiny and Transparent
The Schindleria species are very small. For example, S. praematura grows to about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) long. Because they are so tiny and transparent, they are hard to spot in the ocean.
Scientists think infantfish might be very common around reefs. They find many of them when they collect tiny ocean creatures. But because they are so clear and small, people rarely see them swimming around.
The Smallest Fish
One type of infantfish, the stout infantfish (S. brevipinguis), was once the smallest known vertebrate (animal with a backbone) in the world. It was only about 8 millimeters (one-third of an inch) long!
Later, even smaller animals were discovered. These included a tiny fish called Paedocypris progenetica and a frog named Paedophryne amauensis.
Types of Infantfish
Scientists have officially named several types of Schindleria fish. There are also at least eight more species that live near the Ryūkyū Islands that scientists are still studying.
Here are some of the known species:
- Schindleria brevipinguis (Stout infantfish)
- Schindleria elongata (Elongate paedomorphic goby)
- Schindleria macrodentata
- Schindleria nigropunctata
- Schindleria pietschmanni
- Schindleria praematura (Schindler's fish)
See also
In Spanish: Schindleria (animal) para niños
