The blue bastard fish has formally been identified as a new species. The fish has long been rumoured to exist among Australian fishermen, the fish gets its name because it’s, “a bastard to catch.”
Jeff Johnson, a scientist from Queensland Museum, named the fish Plectorhinchus caeruleonothus after he identified it from photos taken by a Weipa fisherman.
Image: Wikipedia
The blue bastard is recognised as a unique species of sweetlips. Upon seeing photos of the fish, Johnson had this to say, “I saw Bright’s photos and immediately recognised it as something new … The dorsal spines were 12, and the painted sweetlips has nine or 10.”
I’ve heard of fights ending when you kiss and make up, but apparently the ‘blue bastard’ prefers kissing as his main form of combat.
River males typically fight by locking jaws in combat, which the fishermen call kissing, but it’s quite the opposite. Males struggle, locked together, for minutes at a time. Johnson believes it’s a territorial response and not a fight to the death.
