New species of Frogfish discovered
A newly discovered species of frogfish called “psychedelica is rather unusual as it hops and crawls more than it swims. This odd looking fish, which has rare, forward-facing eyes like humans was spotted for the first time,a year ago, by divers swimming in the harbor of Ambon Island, Indonesia. At the first sight the divers could not identify strange swimming fish so they took the help of fish expert Ted Pietsch of the University of Washington in Seattle. After going through the pictures sent by divers, Ted concluded that in fact this fish didn’t have any name. Ted who has 40 years of experience in studying Fishes was quick to realize that the fish is a kind of frogfish. However that particular species of fish was not described in scientific terms. Later Ted named it as “psychedelica” (Latin name Histiophryne psychedelica).
Members of Histiophryne psychedelica, or H. psychedelica, don’t so much swim as hop.Each time they strike the seafloor, they use their fins to push off and they expel water from tiny gill openings on their sides to jettison themselves forward.With tails curled tightly to one side, which surely limits their ability to steer, they look like inflated rubber balls bouncing hither and thither.
There are two very amazing aspects about psychedelica :
1) It swims differently when compared to other known fishes.
2) It also sees the world in a different way . Normally fishes have eyes on either side of their head,but this flat faced fish have its eyes face forward like humans.
What to see how this beautiful fish swims??? Click here
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