Photographer Captures Rare Fish That Walks on its Hands

A photographer captured one of the rarest animals in the world — a fish that can walk on its hands.

It is believed there are less than 3,000 spotted handfish left in the wild, and the only place you can see them is in Tasmania, Australia which is where underwater photographer Nicolas Remy traveled to.

“I took these handfish photographs in July 2022, diving the Derwent River near Hobart (Tasmania),” Remy tells PetaPixel.

“I found most of the handfish on a relatively shallow site (less than 10 meters depth), where the water was 11 to 12 degrees Celsius in temperature, courtesy of the Tasmanian Winter.

“While depth wasn’t an issue, the water was very murky, with a visibility of about two meters, which would drop even lower if I had the unfortunate idea to touch the silty river floor.

“I spent a total of nine hours diving this place, diving for two to three hours at a time, and I have been fortunate to find up to seven handfish over one long dive.

“They are a challenge to spot though, as they lay still on the bottom, among bits of algae, shells, and sea stars.”

Handfish have hand-shaped pectoral fins which they use to walk on the seafloor. It is very different from most fish who can swim freely — the handfish is stuck to the seabed.

Sadly, the spotted handfish used to be common in the southern Australian state but the rare fish is being wiped out thanks to an introduced invasive species; the North Pacific seastar which feeds on the sponges where handfish would normally lay its eggs. It also faces challenges because of human activity.

“An aggravating factor is that handfish aren’t very resilient,” adds Remy. “Their young hatch and start living exactly where their parents bred, and being only able to walk, they won’t cover long distances.

“What that means is if a handfish population can easily get wiped out from a location, and won’t come back unless re-introduced.”