<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/07/is-eating-tasmanian-farmed-salmon-worth-snuffing-out-40m-years-of-evolution>
"Australia is justly famous as a place where ancient species, long extinct
elsewhere, live on. After aeons of adversity, Australia’s living fossils often
survive only in protected habitats: the Wollemi, Huon and King Billy pines, the
Queensland lungfish and even the Tasmanian devil (which thrived on the mainland
at the same time as the Egyptians were building the pyramids) are good
examples. Such species are a source of wonder for anyone interested in the
living world and they should serve as a source of hope that, given half a
chance, even ancient, slow-changing species can survive periods of dramatic
climate change.
Australia’s largest repository of living fossils is arguably the cool, shallow
marine waters off its southern coastline. Despite that fact that most of us
enjoy a swim, snorkel or walk on the beach, the biological importance of our
shallow temperate seas is almost entirely unrecognised.
In 1996 Tasmania’s spotted handfish became the first marine fish to be listed
as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Found only around the Derwent River estuary, this 10cm-long Tasmanian has a
cute, froggy face and hand-like fins, which it uses to “walk” across the sea
floor.
There are only 14 species of handfish, and all are restricted to the cool
waters off southern Australia. Most have limited distributions, several are
endangered and a few are known from just a single example. But what is truly
surprising about handfish is that they were once widespread. A 50m-year-old
fossil was unearthed in the Italian alps. So, like the platypus and Huon pine,
handfish are relics, clinging precariously to life in Australia’s cool southern
waters.
The Maugean skate, also known as the “thylacine of the sea”, has become famous
because it is endangered by salmon farming. It is also a living fossil, found
only in the tannin-rich waters of Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast.
The Maugean skate’s relatives inhabit shallow marine waters around New Zealand
and Patagonia, indicating that the species is a relic from the time, about 40m
years ago, when Australia, Antarctica and South America were joined together to
form Gondwana. Its predicament is forcing ordinary Australians to ask whether
it’s right to snuff out 40m years of evolution for a salmon bagel."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
