They've finally got the bastard - the elusive "blue bastard" fish that is.
Scientists at Queensland Museum have discovered a new species of fish in northern Australia that had only been previously mentioned by the colourful nickname in fishermen's tales.
Plectorhinchus caeruleonothus is a species of sweetlip living on the shallow reefs in the country's north that had remained unrecognised by science until now.
The fish had been the subject of local legend, dubbed the "blue bastard" by anglers from Ningaloo Reef to Cape York because of its bluish sheen and the degree of difficulty involved in catching one.
A Weipa fisherman emailed Queensland Museum Ichthyologist Jeff Johnson a picture of a slippery specimen last year.
It prompted him to team up with geneticist Jessica Worthington Wilmer to analyse comparative specimens from as far afield as Africa, the Middle East and Japan, using their DNA sequence codes to describe the newest member of the sweetlip family.
Mr Johnson said it was unusual the fish's notoriety took so long to extend beyond the fly-fishing community.
"It's quite a unique fish in both biology and behaviour, so in a way it's surprising it took this long for it to be officially recognised as a new species," he said.
The "blue bastard" can grow to a metre in length.
Rival males often exhibit a unique "kissing" display among themselves, where they will rush each other and lock jaws in a prolonged and violent struggle.
The scientific paper on Plectorhinchus caeruleonothus has just been published in the zoological journal Zootaxa.
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