Here’s one weird fish: the Pacific barreleye (Macropinna microstoma), a deep-sea fish (600-800m) recently filmed by National Geographic in its natural habitat. It’s been described for a while, but its transparent head shattered when it was dragged up to the surface, so biologists didn’t really know whether it could move its eyes when alive. The answer is yes.
Note that the “eyelike” structures at the front of the head aren’t eyes, but olfactory organs. The eyes are those big green jobs inside the head.
Why is the head transparent? Well, the eyes are inside the head, presumably for protection, and so its head has to be transparent. Of course not all deep-sea fish use that design, but not all deep-sea fish steal food from stinging siphonophores—one speculation of how this thing makes a living. It just wouldn’t do to have your eyes stung.
The link in the first sentence gives some information, and the Wikipedia entry is short enough to reproduce in its entirety:
Macropinna microstoma is the only species of fish in the genus Macropinna, belonging to Opisthoproctidae, the barreleye family. It is recognized for a highly unusual transparent, fluid-filled dome on its head, through which the lenses of its eyes can be seen. The eyes have a barrel shape and can be rotated to point either forward or straight up, looking through the fish’s transparent dome. M. microstoma has a tiny mouth and most of its body is covered with large scales. The fish normally hangs nearly motionless in the water, at a depth of about 600 metres (2,000 ft) to 800 metres (2,600 ft), using its large fins for stability and with its eyes directed upward. In the low light conditions it is assumed the fish detects prey by its silhouette. MBARI researchers Bruce Robison and Kim Reisenbichler observed that when prey such as small fish and jellyfish are spotted, the eyes rotate like binoculars, facing forward as it turns its body from a horizontal to a vertical position to feed. Robison speculates that M. microstoma steals food from siphonophores.
If this thing didn’t exist, you couldn’t make it up. If frogs didn’t exist, you couldn’t imagine them, either. That’s why studying evolution is so much fun.
Wow! With that transparent dome it bears a resemblance to the thing that emerged from John Hurt’s chest.
Looks way too much like a sci-fi person, with the “eyes” in the front.
Wow!!!! So cool….
I’ll forgo the jokes about transparent heads…. The dating scene has unfortunate consequences.
How the hell did that evolve!? Wonderful and amazing.
pretty frickin’ awesome.
definitely awesomer than cats!
HEY! Watch it!
Yes I’m watching……through a transparent head! Bam! Awesome.
I love the melancholic expression the animal displays, probably thinking “WTF evolution?”
+1
I find it next to impossible not to see the olfactory organs as “eyes”…
Amazing specimen. Nature is always more creative than human imagination.
Does anyone know how big these things are, btw? It’s impossible to get a scale since all pics and video show them swimming in the murky depths with nothing around to compare it to. The short video of them trying to capture it make it look very small.
Reblogged this on The Sound of Madness and commented:
Nature never ceases to amaze me.
As of right now.. this fish is freaking me out. I’m trying to think of the tissue that goes into the fish’s body to become clear and see through like that. This whole evolution thing scares me a bit right now.. I bet that makes you giggle a bit though ehhh? haha
WOW, the real world is so much more amazing than any pretend world.
I’d like to know how the head was illuminated without illuminating the body. If it were an eternal source, would we not see other surface areas as well? If the head were bioluminescent, it would be incredible.
It’s an aquatic umber hulk…..
How long took it to evolve from a generic ancestor fish to this unbelievable specimen? Will life ever stop flabbergasting me? And where is his brain? Beneath the eyes? Only questions.