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<CENTER><B><FONT face=Verdana>NOAA scientists name Alaskan fish with Aleut
words<BR></FONT></B></CENTER>
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<CENTER><FONT face=Verdana size=-1><A
href="http://www.sitnews.us/0806news/080406/080406_unangas.html">http://www.sitnews.us/0806news/080406/080406_unangas.html</A></FONT></CENTER>
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<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>August 04, 2006<BR>Friday AM</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1><BR>NOAA Fisheries scientists have chosen Aleut
words to officially name four fish species they found in the Aleutian Islands
that were new to science. </FONT>
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<CENTER><FONT face=Verdana size=-1><IMG height=218 alt="jpg Alaskan fish"
src="http://www.sitnews.us/0806news/080406/080406_unangas.jpg" width=290
align=bottom border=0 naturalsizeflag="3"></FONT></CENTER>
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<CENTER><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>A snailfish, allocareproctus-unangas,
newly described and documented by NOAA scientists, has been officially
named in honor of the people of the Aleutian Islands. 'Unangas' is a word
for the Aleuts of Atka Island, a major island near the center of the new
species' known range.<BR>Photo courtesy
NOAA</FONT></CENTER></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><FONT face=Verdana
size=-1></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>Scientists Dr. James Orr, Duane Stevenson, and
Morgan Busby of NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center collaborated with Aleut
language teacher Moses Dirks from the Unalaska School District and with NOAA
Fisheries anthropologist Jennifer Sepez on naming the species. Dirks, a native
speaker and linguist, worked with local elders to see if there were already any
Aleut names for this kind of fish, then helped suggest names or offer
translations of descriptive terms suggested by NOAA's scientists.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>"Moses Dirks has worked tirelessly to preserve,
document, and teach Unangam Tunuu," said Dr. Sepez. "We were honored to work
with him." Unangam Tunuu is the Aleut name for the Aleut language.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>Dr. Orr, one of the ichthyologists involved, said,
"We used these names to recognize the people who were here before we scientists
arrived. We hoped to honor the Aleut culture, in a small way, by preserving
these words within the scientific names."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>Three of the newly named species are snailfishes
(genus Allocareproctus), smooth and shiny with no scales, in colors from peach
to pink to red and ranging in size from about three to seven inches long.
Scientists found them in waters of the Aleutian Islands between 250 and 2,130
feet down.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>A fourth newly named fish species-an eelpout
(genus Lycodes)-also appears scale-less but has very small scales and looks more
like an eel. It is closer to a foot long. NOAA researchers conducting annual
scientific bottom trawl surveys in the central Aleutian Islands found the new
type of eelpout. Two specimens had remnants of sea urchins in their
stomachs.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>The native people of the Aleutian Islands have
extensive knowledge and understanding of the marine environment. Fish and marine
mammals feed their populations, animate their stories, and sustain their
culture. But the newly discovered species are all relatively small fish from
very deep water -- not the usual fishing target of an Alaska Native fisherman.
Orr, on the other hand, has spent the last ten years examining marine life from
the Aleutian depths.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>The namers titled one of the fish-whose complete
name is 'Allocareproctus tanix'--using the Aleut word for forehead, 'tanix',
referring to the fact that is has no whiskers on its smooth, pale 'forehead',
unlike the other species which have many whiskers on their heads.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>'Allocareproctus ungak' uses the Alutiiq word for
whiskers, 'ungak' in reference to the whisker-like papillae on the fish's
head.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>'Allocareproctus unangas' was named in honor of
the people of the Aleutian Islands. 'Unangas' is a word for the Aleuts of Atka
Island, a major island near the center of the known distribution of the newly
named species.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>Scientists found specimens of the new eelpout
species between Samalga Pass and Seguam Pass on different expeditions from 1994
through 2004, and again this summer. They named the species 'Lycodes akuugun'.
The word 'akuugun' is the Aleut name for the native inhabitants of the Islands
of Four Mountains, the region in which the species was discovered.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>"Every two to three years we survey the Aleutian
Islands to provide fisheries and ecosystem data to manage the marine resources,"
explained Orr. "Finding four new species in Alaskan waters indicates just how
much we have yet to learn about our marine environment. And we know of several
new species still to be named." At least one of these undescribed species is a
snailfish from a different genus that will also bear an Aleut species
name.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>The species of snailfishes turned out to be quite
common throughout the Aleutians, but because the genus had been known from only
a handful of specimens from the western Pacific off Japan and the Kuril Islands,
what was thought to be the single member of the genus and these new species had
been overlooked.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>"We were sailing at different times on four
chartered fishing vessels out of Dutch Harbor when we found Lycodes akuugun
specimens", said Orr-"the Dominator, the Vesteraalen, the Gladiator and the Sea
Storm. Thanks to the efforts of other scientists aboard the vessels, as well,
the specimens were returned to our laboratory where Duane [Stevenson] and I were
able to recognize them as representing a previously unknown
species."<BR></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>Source of News:</FONT></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=-1>NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA
Fisheries)<BR>www.fakr.noaa.gov</FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>