A Fish with a Transparent Head

By Queuebot in Animals & Pets on Feb 23, 2009 at 11:50 pm


Macropinna macrostoma (common name "barreleyes") can rotate its eyes to a vertical position; because its head is transparent, it can then see predators or prey above itself without moving its body!

Two net-caught individuals contained fragments of jellyfish, which must have been their last meal. Such a potentially painful dinner requires incredible stealth, so it’s now thought that barreleyes carefully maneuvers its body near such stinging organisms, keeping its “eyes on the prize,” as the researchers said, throughout the entire hunt. Its tiny mouth then picks at the victim while a transparent shield protects the fish’s eyes.

Link – via reddit

(image credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Minnesotastan.


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  1. jmk816
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 12:01 am

    So when the mommy fish says “she has eyes in the back of her head” she really means it.

  2. ivymae
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 12:03 am

    My first reaction to this was “Shopped!” which is kind of sad when you think about it.

  3. Ali S.
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 12:27 am

    I wonder how weird it would be to catch a fish like that and then cook it up…

  5. Zombie
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 1:06 am

    Awesome, but am I the only one disappointed in the lack of bigger pictures?

  6. Alex
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 2:31 am

    Wow! That’s a fantastic find, Minnesotastan!

  7. Oomi
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 3:26 am

    I can see what it’s thinkin’.

  8. SenorMysterioso
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 3:47 am

    its adorable

  9. Sammy
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 5:46 am

    It looks like a fish with a plant for a brain. Thats probably just because of the lack of a better picture
    He’s adorable!

  10. Kaz
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 6:02 am

    The two dark spots in front are not the eyes, those are the “nose”, the eyes are those 2 green blobs inside the transparent head. After knowing that, it’s not so cute anymore…

  11. Nozzle
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 7:57 am

    Gah, imagine how sensitive those eyes must be, and with no eyelids for protection. . . and theyre shining their lights right into them! Ow!

  12. neato-josh
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 8:05 am

    does that make anyone else think of “Krang” from teenage mutant ninja turtles (the cartoon)?

    http://missfairchild.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/krang.jpg

    i guess childhood cartoons really do have bearing on your adult psyche.

  13. MommaBear
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 9:24 am

    Behold God’s handiwork. evolution, the big lie

  14. burninglily
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 9:58 am

    SciFi and Nature mate
    this is their offspring

  16. Evilbeagle
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 1:58 pm

    While this fish is certainly neat, and the first thing that crossed my mind was, “Can ya eat it?”, it’s hard to look at. Something about it just skeeves me out to no end.

  17. Evilbeagle
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 1:58 pm

    He does have a cute face, though.

  18. chrome
    Feb 24th, 2009 at 2:29 pm

    it looks sad… sad and delicious!

  20. GQ
    Feb 25th, 2009 at 5:02 am

    “Behold God’s handiwork. evolution, the big lie”

    LOL Aw, you poor thing…

  21. NathanR
    Feb 25th, 2009 at 12:26 pm

    ““Behold God’s handiwork. evolution, the big lie”

    LOL Aw, you poor thing… ”

    I would like to second this statement :p

    on topic: I seriously thought it was photoshopped up until I saw it posted on national geographic.. seriously mindblowing.. Evolution is amazing.

    *looks up at MommaBear’s comment and grins*


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