Following rising temperatures in the waters off Iceland, an ongoing development which began in 1996, 31 species of fish formerly alien to Icelandic waters have been found within the country’s fishing grounds.
Fishing in Iceland. Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.
Most of these fish are deep sea creatures that originate in oceans to the far south and only in few cases are these species caught for consumption, Morgunbladid reports.
Some of these new species are very rare and only a few individuals have been caught. Ichthyologists Gunnar Jónsson and Jónbjörn Pálsson have given these species Icelandic names, including kjáni (“fool”; Lat: chaunax suttkusi).
Pétursfiskur (“Peter’s fish”; Lat: dolichopteryx longipes) is another example, as is trölli (“troll”; Lat: lamprogrammus shcherbachevi) of which only seven have been caught in the world.
Click here to read more about rising ocean temperatures and the impact it has on the Icelandic biosphere and here to see a picture of the “fool” and other strange fish.
