A few years back, our friends and dive mates Lynne and Roger Van Dok had an exceptionally good day hunting just off Papua New Guinea. It would take seven years before they found out exactly how good their day had been.

On the day of their discovery, the couple decided to spend their dive puttering around a reef at about 50 feet. Twenty minutes into the dive, Lynne pointed to a cluster of tiny pink tubular sponges. It took Roger’s eyes a moment to sort out the profile of a pink, toothpick-size pipefish hiding among pink, toothpick-size strands of sponge. Could it be a new species? That afternoon a photo was emailed to a pipefish specialist in Australia.

Years later, the photo of their pipefish caught the attention of ichthy- ologist Gerry Allen, who organized a collecting trip to the region. Six years after their discovery, Lynne and Roger received the final verdict on just how good their day in New Guinea had been when Dr. Allen sent them his descriptive paper declaring their pipefish, Festucalex rufus, a new species.