• Question: what is the least common fish in the sea?? and why is it least common??

    Asked by katie12 to Clare, Dave, Glo, Ozge, Sean on 15 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Gloeta Massie

      Gloeta Massie answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      The most common fish in the sea is the REALLY, REALLY BIG fish you caught on your hook, but that got away. The least common – hmmm – there are species that have only ever been seen once – but since most of the oceans are unexplored – we don’t know if they’re really rare or just very, very good at avoiding us!

    • Photo: Ozge Ozkaya

      Ozge Ozkaya answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Probably an undiscovered species that no one ever saw before…! As to why some species are less common than others, well it’s because they are not very well adapted to their environment and they probably don’t have the genetic make-up that is required to be successful, unless their habitat has been badly damaged, presumably by humans?

    • Photo: Dave Sproson

      Dave Sproson answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Yep, so much of the oceans are un-explored, that it’s pretty much impossible to say. As for why a particular fish might be really uncommon: all species are in a constant cycle of evolution and extinction, it’s just such a slow process that we don’t really notice it. So really rare fish may be what’s left of a species that used to be successful, but has become much less so. A more likely explanation, though, is that most rare fish only live in a very specific type of environment (or niche), and if there isn’t much of that around, then that fish will never be very common.

Comments