Lost and found: stroke of luck that helped rediscover tiny ‘superhero’ fish

In the first of a new series celebrating the re-emergence of species feared extinct, we follow the story of the Batman River loach, last seen in 1974

Holy loach!" ... Batman loach returns" ... Tiny superhero fish rediscovered" ... It was almost inevitable that the rediscovery of the Batman River loach in a stream in eastern Turkey would spawn a slew of comic book puns in headlines around the world.

Batman is a city and province in Turkey with the same name, and the name of the stream is Batman," says Dr Cuneyt Kaya, associate professor at Recep Tayyip Erdoan University. For Turkish people, the name seems normal, but for foreigners, of course, people find it strange or funny."