IF YOU are just a backbone and a pair of testicles can you lay claim to being the smallest vertebrate? That is the question taxing male zoologists this week.
On one side are the European discovers of Paedocypris progenetica, a fish specimen from Sumatra which they announced last week was the smallest vertebrate yet discovered. On the other is the American discover of Photocorynus spiniceps, an anglerfish from the Philippines. And, says the American, his fish is smaller than the Europeans鈥�.
On 23 January, Ralf Britz of the Natural History Museum in London and colleagues published details of a fully mature Sumatran fish that is just 7.9 millimetres long (快猫短视频, 28 January, p 4).
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But on seeing the press reports, Ted Pietsch of the University of Washington in Seattle realised he was in possession of an even smaller tiddler. Last September, in the journal Ichthyological Research Pietsch described a male anglerfish he had discovered that is a mere 6.2 millimetres long.
The diminutive male anglerfish lives its entire life anchored to its enormous mate, which at 46 millimetres is seven times as long as he is. His testes are so large they occupy almost his entire body cavity. But he does have a backbone, and so qualifies as a vertebrate.
鈥淎ll I can say is that if he鈥檚 got one smaller, we鈥檝e got no problem with that,鈥� Britz told 快猫短视频. 鈥淏ut there is a difference between a parasitic male that鈥檚 not much more than testes and the free-living fish we described,鈥� he says.
鈥淭here is a difference between a parasitic male and the free-living fish we described鈥�
