On Oct. 8, 2024, scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency, announced they had sequenced the first ever full genome of the Spotted Handfish (Brachionichthys hirsutus) – critically endangered and endemic to Tasmania. The marine species can be found scuttling or walking along the sands of the Derwent River estuary on its hand-like pectoral fins.

The team was able to sequence the complete genome from a small amount of poor-quality DNA, using what’s called a low-input protocol. This was done in collaboration with the Biomolecular Resource Facility at Australian National University.

Once plentiful around Tasmania’s south-east coast the species’ numbers have dwindled. In 1996, it became the first marine fish listed as critically endangered. Scientists now estimate fewer than 2,000 individuals remain in the wild.