The Mother-Ship Forgot One of Its Aliens
Alright this blog has some pretty weird animals but this one is probably the weirdest one I've seen yet. This fish has a very unique way of hunting that involves looking through his body rotating his eyes. More info below.
I was surprised I was able to find a video on this fish because of how far underwater they are
(this is what happens to them after being depressurized)
The Barreleye Fish has extremely sensitive eyes that allow the fish to see faint silhouettes of prey above them. The eyes are restricted by tunnel vision and until very recently scientist believed the fish could only look upward (this belief has been held since it was first discovered caught in fishing nets in 1939) .
Researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (Robson and Reisenbichler) were able to catch a Barreleye and observe the fish rotate its eyes forward. This was a huge discovery for the researches.
The Barrelleye drifts motionless during most of its life as it waits fro prey. It is able to do this with its large fin and only changes position when it has spotted prey. The stillness is essential because the fish can only see silhouettes of its prey and movement would obstruct its vision. It then rotates its eyes forward and uses its small pointy mouth to attack its prey with precision. This precision is necessary because it steals small organisms from jelly fish and it wants to prevent as potential stingy damage it can.
The clear fluid seen in the video and picture is also new information. Before no knowledge of the fluid was present because after the fish has been brought to the surface, the fluid chamber would have already been destroyed do to the depressurization. This chamber not only allows the fish to see above itself but prevents any damage to its eyes when it hunts for the jelly fish's food.
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