‘Grumpy’ ocean creature — with red body — found in Red Sea. See new ‘dwarf’ species

It was 2012, and a meme-worthy cat with a pout took the internet by storm.

For years, memes, GIFs and photos of Grumpy Cat were shared among co-workers with a case of the Mondays, teenagers in the middle of their high school exams and thousands more across the online space.

Now, five years after her death, a new creature may take on the mantle of the grumpiest animal.

In central Saudi Arabia, along the coast of the Red Sea, coral reefs offer food and hiding places for countless species.

Hoping to explore the fish diversity of the reef, a group of researchers put on scuba-diving gear and sank beneath the waves, according to a study published Sept. 12 in the peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys.

On one dive, researchers released clove oil into an underwater cave to anesthetize the species within, according to the study, and a small, dark red goby floated from the cave.

Researchers were unsure what species it was and continued their search. Then, months later, the same diver spotted another of the small fish under a coral overhang, researchers said. The following year, researchers were shown a similar fish that had been collected nearby, and in June, seven more were caught and brought to the surface, according to the study.

The fish were about one half-inch long and ranged from a bright red color to an orangish yellow, researchers said.

But what stood out most was the severely curved mouth, and the fish was identified as a new species.

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Sueviota aethon, or the Grumpy dwarfgoby, was named in reference to “the fish’s apparent grumpy and rather unhappy appearance, primarily due to the extremely upturned mouth position,” researchers said.

The scientific species name, aethon, refers to one of the four horses of the Greek sun god Helios, according to the study. Other related species have previously been named after the other horses.

Their red and orange coloration is dotted by small patches of white, and the fish has nearly translucent fins, according to the study.

All fish were collected from small caves, under rocky overhangs or in small crevices and rock holes, researchers said.

“Sueviota aethon is a rare species, with only 10 specimens found during extensive … collections along the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast,” researchers said. “These specimens were collected at depths between (32 and 100 feet).”

The Red Sea is an inlet of the Indian Ocean between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and Eritrea. The fish were collected along the western coastline of Saudi Arabia.

The research team includes Viktor Nunes Peinemann, Lucía Pombo-Ayora, Luke Tornabene and Michael L. Berumen.

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