Key Takeaways on the Handfish
There are 14 species of handfish, which got their name because the fish has hand-like fins that it uses for walking.
Handfish are only found in Australia and scientists estimate that for the spotted handfish, there are fewer than 3,000 handfish left in the world. For the red handfish, there are only 100 left in the world.
Handfish are not extinct, but they are endangered. Habitat loss, pollution, siltation, direct disturbance, and climate change, all impact handfish populations.
A nursery at the University of Tasmania has been nurturing a cohort of little handfish. Already, they can walk, and soon they will be headed to school. After that, it will be time for them to enter the real world.
It may sound as though the nursery is caring for newborn humans or animals, but this nursery is for red handfish hatchlings. The rare species is facing extinction, and scientists are hoping to boost the population by introducing these nursery-bred babies into the wild.
What Is the Handfish and Does it Really Walk?
The handfish got its name because it has hand-like fins that it uses for walking. These little fish prefer to walk, rather than swim. There are 14 species of handfish, and they are only found in Australian waters.
Handfish are tiny. The Ziebell’s handfish (brachiopsilus ziebelli) can grow to be about six inches long, and it’s one of the larger species of handfish. They live in reefs near Tasmania, but they are extremely elusive, and researchers have not had a confirmed sighting in 18 years.
Another species, the spotted handfish (brachionichthys hirsutus), has made itself more available to researchers and is considered the most common. But even so, scientists estimate there are fewer than 3,000 of these handfish living in the wild.
Like the spotted handfish, the red handfish (thymichthys politus) takes its name from its appearance. These bright red fish are less than four inches long, and researchers estimate there are only 100 left in the wild.
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Are Handfish Endangered?
The handfish aren’t extinct, but they are in great danger. The red handfish, for example, is fending off many threats.
“Key threats for this species are centered around habitat loss and degradation, pollution, siltation, direct disturbance, and climate change,” says Jemina Stuart-Smith, a senior lecturer at the University of Tasmania who has been part of the hatchling project.
With dwindling numbers of red handfish in the wild, researchers wanted to captively breed hatchlings and then reintroduce them to the wild. In December 2024, the university announced it had successfully bred 232 hatchlings. Almost half a year later, Stuart-Smith says the hatchlings are doing well.
“They’re now starting to resemble adults both in appearance and behavior. Their colors have become more defined, and they’re showing natural, active behaviors that suggest they’re well on track for eventual release,” Stuart-Smith says.
The hatchlings will go through “handfish school,” where they will learn to live in a more complex environment. They’ll have natural seaweed in their tanks and live invertebrates.
“This helps prepare them for life in the wild by encouraging natural foraging behaviors, building resilience, and familiarizing them with the types of environments they’ll encounter after release,” Stuart-Smith says.
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Conservation Efforts for the Handfish
Introducing the hatchlings into the wild will triple their population. Stuart-Smith says conservation efforts are important because the red handfish has been pushed to near extinction due to harmful human influences like the destruction of coral reefs and climate change.
And even though handfish have faces that only a mother handfish could love, Stuart-Smith says conservation efforts shouldn’t only focus on the cute and fluffy.
“Handfish also highlight the importance of conserving species that are not just traditionally charismatic. Every species — no matter how small or unusual — plays a role in the ecosystem and warrants protection,” Stuart-Smith says.
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Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
Journal of Fish Biology. Population parameters and conservation implications for one of the world's rarest marine fishes, the red handfish (Thymichthys politus)
The Handfish Conservation Project. The Handfishes
University of Tasmania. New hatchlings triple red handfish conservation breeding program numbers
Emilie Lucchesi has written for some of the country's largest newspapers, including The New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and an MA from DePaul University. She also holds a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Illinois-Chicago with an emphasis on media framing, message construction and stigma communication. Emilie has authored three nonfiction books. Her third, A Light in the Dark: Surviving More Than Ted Bundy, releases October 3, 2023, from Chicago Review Press and is co-authored with survivor Kathy Kleiner Rubin.
