SAN DIEGO, July 21 (UPI) -- California scientists have discovered the earth's smallest, lightest animal with a backbone known as the "stout infantfish."
The tiny fish is no longer than the width of a pencil, said H.J. Walker of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.
Walker and William Watson of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, in La Jolla, have summarized their work in the latest issue of the "Records of the Australian Museum."
The pair say the fish is found exclusively around Australia's Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea. Only six specimens are known to exist.
The largest specimen, and only female, measures approximately a third of an inch while the males measure just over a quarter of an inch.
"It was a really good day when I first looked under the microscope and recognized something that I knew was a new species. I said to myself, 'Wow, this is really great,'" said Walker, a senior museum scientist in the Scripps Marine Vertebrates Collection. "But at the time I didn't realize that I was looking at the world's smallest vertebrate."
