Muscat: When Nasser Salim Mohammed Al Farsi, an amateur diver, took a plunge into the sea to have a glimpse of the coral reefs, four kilometres off the eastern coast of Masirah Island, little did he know that it would be a chance discovery of one of the rare marine species.
And to his utter surprise, he could see one of the rare fish in the Omani waters.
"The spotted fish, which attracted my attention, was hiding among the rocks," Al Farsi added.
Out of curiosity, he caught the fish at the depth of almost 30 metres and brought it to the boat, however, he released it again in water after taking some pictures.
Having no knowledge about this marine creature, Al Farsi released some of its pictures on his WhatsApp group to receive information from other divers.
Meanwhile, one of the divers showed the photos to a fisherman who recognised it and said: "This is a rare fish found in the territorial waters of the Republic of Mozambique under the name ( Spottobrotula mossambica ) which means the (spotted sea snake of Mozambique). It has been documented through a sample caught in the Straits of Mozambique at the depth of 45 metres by a research boat in 1978.
This fish does not belong to the sea snake sub-family of (Hydrophiinae) but to the (Neobythitinae) and the family of (Ophidiidae)which includes other two species which are (Spottobrotula persica) and (Spottobrotula mahodadi) .
The Marine Science and Fisheries Centre of the Sultanate of Oman announced in October 2022 the documentation-for the first time- of the fish (Spottobrotula persica) which means the spotted sea snake of Mozambique, off the coast of Kamzar Village of Musandam. The habitat of the spotted sea snake of Mozambique is at the depth of 22 to 82 metres and the length of the male snake (fish) is 30cm.
Al Farsi managed to spot the fish 46 years after its first documentation in Mozambique.
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