The Ruby Seadragon near Australia. We are still discovering new species. Hopefully we will find more before the human ape species wipes them out.

Rare Ruby Seadragon Caught on Video for First Time

In a gem of a find, scientists have filmed the ruby seadragon, a brilliantly colored fish related to seahorses, in the wild for the first time.

The footage, filmed in Western Australia’s Recherche Archipelago, also marks the first time that the 10-inch-long fish has been seen alive. The ruby seadragon was declared a new species in early 2015, making it just the third known seadragon species, as well as the first discovered in 150 years.

However, the discovery arose from DNA tests and anatomical studies of dead museum specimens—not from collecting the dark-red species in its natural habitat.

“There is hidden biodiversity in the sea,” says Scripps Institution of Oceanography biologist Greg Rouse, who discovered the species with graduate student Josefin Stiller and Western Australian Museum researcher Nerida Wilson.

"A big, charismatic fish like the ruby seadragon represents that.”