That’s a wrasse! Rare fish spotted for first time since 2009 in kelp forest in Western Australia

‘A very cryptic, shy fish’: the rare Braun's wrasse that researchers spotted during a dive near Albany in Western Australia. Photograph: Albert Pessarrodona

The chances of encountering the rare reef fish were so far-fetched, it took marine biologist Océane Attlan a few seconds to clock what she was seeing.

“All of a sudden I saw this fish. You know when you recognise a familiar face, but you can’t put a name on it. That’s the feeling I had,” she said.