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Mostly invisible to the human eye, miniaturised and characterized by a hidden lifestyle, “cryptobenthic” fishes are among the scientifically most understudied groups of vertebrates on this planet. Denoted as the “hidden half”, cryptobenthic fish diversity is thought to be considerably underestimated, with many new species having been described in the recent past. However, the discovery of entire new groups of vertebrates that have been overlooked for more than two centuries are rare, and in an era dominated by species extinction even more interesting for biologists and the public alike. What astonishes me most, nonetheless, is the fact that I stumbled upon this peculiar system in one of the best studied marine basins in the world, the Mediterranean Sea and above all in a very unexpected scene: Right underneath the toes of thousands of clueless people who are about to take an invigorating bathe, I found a group of small fishes that defy successfully the extremely harsh conditions of the intertidal zone, since millions of years.

Preface of my PhD proposal for a DOC-Scholarship (Austrian Academy of Science)

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Scope