Sun Yat-sen University Names New Fish Species 'Lentipes ptasan' to Honor Indigenous Tattoo Culture

A research team at National Sun Yat-sen University announced the discovery of a new fish species, 'Lentipes ptasan.' Because the male fish has two dark lines on its face resembling traditional Taiwanese indigenous facial tattoos, the team named it using the Truku word 'ptasan.' Professor Liao Te-yu and doctoral student Chuang Wei-cheng identified the species after collecting specimens in Mindanao, Philippines, in 2019. The fish is distributed from northern Taiwan to the Philippines. This naming is a representative case of combining taxonomy with cultural significance.