Originally published at: Astounding footage of deep sea "spook fish" with a transparent head | Boing Boing
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We learned about this fish in our "“A Day in the Life” book… My daughters got pretty obsessed with Barreleyes and Anglerfish after that.
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They’re such beautiful fish. I think it was actually here that I first saw one of these and I’ve been pretty fascinated with them since (to be fair, it doesn’t take much for me to become obsessed with a fish).
I never get tired of seeing how creatures adapt to living in places like that.
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Wowzer! That was cool.
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Anglerfish are awesome.
If your kids like deep sea weirdness, check out this book called “The Deep”, an amazing coffee table book.
I wish they had some sample pics, but trust me it is worth it. They also have a little depth counter on there sides of the pages showing how far down each critter was found, and IIRC has the name, measurements, location, etc.
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What’s the evolutionary advantage for a transparent head like that?!
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You can see predators and prey above you. Useful when you live at the edge of where sunlight filters through the water and can see the dark shapes above you.
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Those eyes are pretty huge and may be delicate; with a transparent head they are protected. Just a guess - but in any case, it’s a definite “WTF, evolution?” thing
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Per the Wikipedia article on this fish:
“It has a large, dome-shaped, transparent head. This protects its sensitive eyes from the nematocysts (stinging cells) of the siphonophores, from which it is believed to steal food.”
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It’s much easier to get the hairline level on the back of your neck during pandemic home trims if you can look right through the back.
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It is easy to be a pessimist concerning the current state of the environment, but for this fish, things are looking up…
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