Borneo, Home Of The Toothy Suction Fish

December 19, 2006

Release from: Eliane Engeler
Associated Press

GENEVA - Scientists have found at least 52 new species of animals and plants on the southeast Asian island of Borneo since 2005, including a catfish with protruding teeth and suction cups on its belly to help it stick to rocks, WWF International said Tuesday.

"The more we look, the more we find," said Stuart Chapman, WWF International coordinator for the study of the "Heart of Borneo," an 85,000-square-mile rain forest in the island's center where several of the new species were found. "These discoveries reaffirm Borneo's position as one of the most important centers of biodiversity in the world." Much of Borneo, which is shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and the sultanate of Brunei, is covered by one of the world's last remaining rain forests.

The discoveries bring the total number of species newly identified on the island to more than 400 since 1996, according to WWF, known in North America as the World Wildlife Fund.

Other creatures discovered from July 2005 to September 2006 include six Siamese fighting fish, whose unique colors and markings distinguish them from close relatives, and a tree frog with bright green eyes.

On the Malaysian part of the islands, peat swamps are home to the paedocypris micromegethes, barely a third of an inch long. The creature, which gets its name from the Greek words for children and small, is tinier than all other vertebrate species on Earth except for its slightly more minuscule cousin, a 0.31-inch-long fish found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, according to WWF.

The discoveries further highlight the need to conserve the habitat and species of Borneo, where the rain forest continues to be threatened by rubber, palm oil and pulp production, WWF said.