Courtesy Sesame WorkshopWith the approval of Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind “Sesame Street,” the hairy ghost pipefish has officially been named Solenostomus snuffleupagus.
Shaggy auburn locks, a lengthy snout, a signature endearing fuzziness—a fish newly identified on the Great Barrier Reef is the ocean-dwelling doppelgänger of Mr. Snuffleupagus, Big Bird’s best friend on “Sesame Street.”
The species was first spotted by Australian marine biologist David Harasti more than 20 years ago.
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Courtesy David HarastiThe Solenostomus snuffleupagus's namesake.
“I first photographed this strange, shaggy fish in Papua New Guinea back in 2003 and could never match it to any known species,” Harasti wrote in a social media post. “Fast‑forward to 2020, my great friend and collaborator Graham Short and I finally found a male–female pair on the Great Barrier Reef, and that was the breakthrough we needed.”
With the approval of Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind “Sesame Street,” the hairy ghost pipefish has officially been named Solenostomus snuffleupagus.
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“Graham and I named the species because it looks uncannily like Mr. Snuffleupagus…long snout, shaggy filaments, the whole vibe,” Harasti says.
The paper describing Solenostomus snuffleupagus, written by Harasti and Short, is published in the Journal of Fish Biology.
“After 20+ years of mystery, the hairy ghost pipefish is officially a new species,” Harasti says. “This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever worked on.”
