The species, Brachygobius jennie, was described June 17 in the peer-reviewed journal Zoosystematics and Evolution. It is the first bumblebee goby ever recorded in China.
At a maximum length of under 9 mm, it is the smallest known member of its genus, possibly the smallest fish in China, and among the smallest fish anywhere in the world, the authors wrote.
The discovery drew quick interest from biologists and K-pop fans alike, the South China Morning Post reported.
Bumblebee gobies take their name from the bold black-and-yellow banding that makes them look like tiny bees, and the freshwater and brackish-water species are popular in home aquariums.
Jiangyan Tian, a postgraduate student at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou and the study's first author, came across this one during fieldwork in the mangrove wetlands of Hengqin Island, at the mouth of the Pearl River next to Macau, in April 2025.
