President Obama nets his second namesake fish

President Barack Obama may see his Affordable Care Act scaled back or repealed after he leaves office next month, but there will always be the lasting legacy of the Obama fish.

Marine biologist Richard Pyle has named a new species of fish he found in June while scuba diving in Hawaii after the outgoing president. The president was born in Honolulu.

The tiny fish, Tosanoides obama, was found near the Kure Atoll in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Northwestern Hawaii.

The pinkish basslet fish has a blue spot on its dorsal fin and is the only known fish that calls the Papahānaumokuākea home. In fact, only five have been seen by scientists since their discovery six months ago.

It’s fitting Pyle named the fish after the president.

In August, Obama quadrupled the size of the marine region that was developed by President George W. Bush in 2006. Now at 582,578 square miles, it is the largest protected area on Earth, with bans on commercial fishing and other activities within it.

This isn’t the first foray into the animal kingdom for Obama’s name — or even his first fish. He also has a namesake spider, parasitic worm and extinct lizard.

His first fish, a freshwater darter indigenous to eastern North American, was named after him in 2012 when it and four other darterspecies were discovered. The others were named after former vice president Al Gore and former presidents Jimmy Carter, Theodore Roosevelt and Bill Clinton.

The only question that remains is if President-elect Donald Trump will seek to repeal the Obama fish when he takes office next month.