The Maldives is home to the finest beaches and resorts, and a rare rainbow-colored fish called rose-veiled fairy wrasse. The fish, whose scientific name is Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa, was found living at depths ranging from 131 to 229 feet (40 to 70 meters) beneath the ocean’s surface.

Rose-veiled fairy wrasse is the first fish to be described by a Maldivian scientist—Ahmed Najeeb. A study describing the fish can be found in the journal ZooKeys.”It has always been foreign scientists who have described species found in the Maldives without much involvement from local scientists, even those that are endemic to the Maldives,” Najeeb said in a statement. The fish was first found in 1990, but researchers thought it was an adult belonging to Cirrhilabrus rubrisquamis, or the red velvet fairy wrasse. The rose-veiled fairy wrasse adult males bear a unique color pattern of bright magenta, peach, orange-pink, and dark purplish-red.

“What we previously thought was one widespread species of fish, is actually two different species, each with a potentially much more restricted distribution,” said Yi-Kai Tea, a University of Sydney doctoral student, in a statement. “This exemplifies why describing new species, and taxonomy in general, is important for conservation and biodiversity management.” The Maldives Marine Research Institute, together with The California Academy of Sciences, will continue to explore more Maldivian reefs in the future. “Our partnership will help us better understand the unexplored depths of our marine ecosystems and their inhabitants,” Najeeb said. “The more we understand and the more compelling scientific evidence we can gather, the better we can protect them.”