Wood-eating armored catfish

From the Amazon, of course, comes a strange new species of fish. An armored catfish that eats wood. That's it's mouth in the photo at right.

A protozoan that lives in the gut of the catfish breaks down cellulose and makes wood into sugar for catfish food.

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Do you have a retractable sexual appendage on your forehead?

If not, then you're outshined by a male chimaera, such as the newly discovered black ghostshark.

The strange shark-like fish has lots of strangeness about it, but nothing matches it's ...ahem... tentaculum. According to ichthyologist Douglas Long:

“They have this club on the top of their head with spikes. People think it’s used for mating,” Long said. “It’s like a little mace with little spikes and hooks and it fits into their forehead. It’s jointed and it comes out. We’re not sure if it is used to stimulate the female or hold the female closer.”

Sadly, you can't see it very well in the pictures at right. I'll keep searching for a usable image, because you're not the only one who wants to see it.

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Egg-laying boys

Watch out fellow males, you too could be recruited for a dastardly experiment.

A fish researcher has created egg-laying male bluegills by giving the boys estrogen. Then he uses normal males to fertilize the male-produced eggs. The offspring? So-called "super males" that have two y chromosomes and can be counted on to mate with normal females to produce only male offspring.

Why? Because fish farmers prefer to raise male bluegills--they're twice as big as females and thus more profitable.

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Sturgeon reappears

A young atlantic sturgeon was found in the Baltic Sea, for the first time in perhaps a century (left).

Hallelujah, what fun it would be to note a fantastic species like a sturgeon, which is amazing to look at and can get huge. Like the size of an elongated large motorcycle or small car (right).

But wait, it might just be a stray from a Polish captive breeding effort, so it may not be the miracle it sounds like. Oh well, either way, sturgeon in the Baltic is a good day for a fish lover. Or a good day for someone who likes the ocean. Or even a good day for someone who doesn't care, even though they won't know they're having a good day.

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Robo-fish to sniff out pollution

Check out the amazing robo-fish in the video below. They look and swim like real fish.

As part of the European SHOAL project (clever name, yes?), the robo-fish that sniff out pollution will be released off Spain. The reason for using robo fish is that fish swimming is very efficient so batteries can last longer. The robo fish will swim around and look for problems, and then report back to the mother ship.

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Psychedelic fish

No, it's not an acid trip vision. It's a real fish from Indonesia.

It's new, it's wild, and it's aptly named psychedelica, see photo at right. Histiophryne psychedelica for you latin name geeks. It's an angler fish without the classic dangling fake "lure" that many anglerfish use to attract prey.

I've seen things like this before, but only in bad dreams.

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Crazy weird fish

It's a plane! It's a submarine! No, it's a barreleye fish.

This deep sea fish has freaky tubular eyes, embedded within a transparent head. Why? To see in the dark and battle stinging siphonophores for food. At least that's one theory.

I think it just wants to win the prize for best imitation of a submarine by a marine fish.

See the barreleye (aka spookfish) swim in this YouTube video sure to hit the top ten.



hat tip: Deep Sea News

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Transsexual eels invade New Jersey

It's too bizarre to be true. Slimy, invading eels that survive drought, and can change sex if needed to reproduce.

It's the invasion of the Asian swamp eels. One more in a series of unwelcome creatures that are replacing native fish because they can.

The Asian swamp eel is a protandrous hermaphrodites. Those are big words that mean

beginning life as males but able to change into females if the need arises.

Wonder what that means, if the need arises?

hat tip: Zooillogix

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The upside-down fish

Have you ever seen a fish swim upside down? That's the main attraction at the Globe Inn, in Lympstone near Exeter, Devon.

If it were an upside-down catfish (photo at right), the upside-down swimming would be normal. No, this is simply a strange goldfish with an alternative lifestyle.


The upside-down goldfish seems perfectly happy (see photo at left).Speculation is that a problem with his swim bladder has "Aussie" taking a strange posture in the world. Pub customers watch him for hours, and naturally wonder whether he's been imbibing too much.

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Elephant nose fish finds food with electricity

That strange wand on the elephant nose fish (right) is an electric food detector. This bizarre fish finds food the way people with metal detectors find coins on a beach. Looks kind of similar too, check the photos.

The elephant nose fish generates an electric field and then waves a detector that "feels" for something that disturbs the field. Food for the fish, or gold doubloons for the people.

The so-called "nose" is really a modified chin, and since the elephant nose fish can also use it to avoid obstacles, it has the unusual distinction of being able to "see" with it's chin.

And, you can even have one in your aquarium, and watch it get active at night, feeling around for food with electricity.

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Shark ball

Who knew that sharks could be so much fun? For you lovers of labrador retrievers, this video has to be seen to be believed. OK, it has to be seen to be enjoyed.

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Fish help spread forest seeds

How can this be? Fish plant a tree? Very strange. In Brazil's Pantanal forest, a fish helps a palm tree populate the forest by spreading seeds.

During the floods that are common in this area, pacu (the seed-eating fish) move out of rivers and into the forest, eating the fruit of the tucum palm and spreading the seeds in fish poo after swimming around and digesting the fruit. Local fishermen know to bait their hooks with fruit to catch the pacu. Sadly, the pacu appear to be in decline from overfishing, threatening the forest as well as the fish.

Scientists think the role of fish in forests may be bigger than realized. We only learned a few decades ago that forests get fertilized by the bodies of salmon that die after spawning. What other fish mysteries are hidden in plain view.

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Blobfish is back, bigger than ever

Remember blobfish? That captivating deep-sea fish with the world-weary look? HE'S BACK.

With a series of well-timed appearances, blobfish has once again hit number 1 on the Blogfish charts. Here's just a small sampling of what blobfish has been up to.

On YouTube, you can see blobfish starring in a bittersweet tale of life's transitions. Or, check out blobfish mujlu , a strange vignette with anti-Microsoft leanings. There's some reality TV with blobfish appearing in situ at 500+ meters deep in the Ocean, and a brief interview revealing the true depth of blobfish's angst.

Here's a revealing portrait of blobfish and friends, and an ad appearance with blobfish promoting a Toyota concept car. Another appearance that built his image is this edgy bit role in Counter Strike, the violent online game. Finally, no listing would be complete without the inevitable blobfish duet with Ziggy.

Stardom has it's downside and blogfish has sometimes resorted to disguises in public, but the papparazzi seem to find him anyway. Blobfish had no comment after he appeared at number 1 on a "10 ugliest animals list, beating even the repulsive star-nosed mole and the loathed hagfish.

Fan tributes are appearing everywhere, with blobfish as a MySpace nom de plume of a 25 yr old Texan, and a 24 yr old from Tasmania.

On Facebook, we have the blobfish pity society, and the blobfish lovers.

In the blogosphere, we have Blob World, and the underwater Blobfish welcomes you.

Can you believe the reach of this mega-star?

Since blogfish is blobfish central, send your blobfish sightings here, and I'll post regular updates. Now let's say goodbye with a final peek at one of blobfish's finer moments of the last few months (photo at right).

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Lumpfish love isn't free

Who knew lumpfish could stir passions so? After yesterday's post on lumpfish, Jón Baldur Hlíðberg from Iceland sent an email saying lumpfish caviar is great, and kindly shared his fantastic illustrations of the fish of Iceland, including this lovely male lumpfish (right).

As if that wasn't enough on lumpfish, the astute Wolfman Jack noted the risks of fishing lumpfish in a comment to yesterday's post...just as I was ready to get some lumpfish caviar thanks to Jón's note. And I didn't get just one or two lumpfish items, the prolific Greg Laden featured lumpfish as "cool and odd" on his great blog, and the blogfish hit counter went nuts on Friday, partially due to lumpfish traffic. We scored over 5,000 unique visits on Friday, a blogfish record. Thanks all for stopping by, and since you seem to like odd sea creature stories I'll try to find more for you.

Now if you really want to know more about lumpfish, they are cold water fish that guard nests of young, some have suckers on their bellies that allow them to cling to rocks, Webster's online dictionary tells us that the word "lumpfish" is used 6 times out of 100 million words written or spoken in English, and the lumpfish is also known as paddlecock or lumpsucker.

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Lumpfish caviar, the sublime ugly

Would you buy caviar from this fish? Here's someone who will sell you lumpfish caviar? When the high end caviar gets scarce, who knows where we'll have to go for more.



Maybe it's time to bring back one of our heroes...today lumpfish caviar, tomorrow blobfish caviar?

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The bluegill that ate Japan

Or at least ate Japan's fish. The problem is so bad that the Emperor is apologizing for bringing bluegill into Japan in the 1960s.

Chicago mayor Richard Daley gave bluegill, the state fish of Illinois, as a gift to the current Emperor in 1960. Hoping to create a new delectable food source, Japanese fish biologists established the bluegill in lakes. Now, bluegill are eating and depleting some native species, and they've become an official nuisance. "Its cultivation started as there were great expectations of raising them for food in those days. My heart aches to see it has turned out like this," Emperor Akihito said.

To control the bluegill, there is a "catch and eat" policy for bluegill. Who knew that these nice little fish could be such a scourge. How long until we have a Bluegillzilla horror movie?

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Great swallower eats fish 4 times bigger than itself

Like B. Kliban said: never eat anything bigger than your head. Unless you're a great swallower, that is.

A fisherman from Grand Cayman island found a small great swallower floating on the surface with a much larger whole fish in it's stomach. Four times bigger than the great swallower.

The great swallower is a deep sea fish with a huge jaw and a balloon stomach. Known for eating huge prey, this looks like record catch for a great swallower. Of course, the fact that it was dead may mean that it was a bit too big.

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Fish in a tree, how can that be?

Not just in Dr. Seuss books, this is for real. Scientists slogging through swamps in Belize and Florida found hundreds of mangrove killifish lined up inside rotten branches. The fish can last for months inside trees when nearby pools of water go dry.

To survive out of water, the fish need to make drastic changes in their metabolism and physiology. They alter their gills to retain water and excrete nitrogen through their skin. In a perhaps unrelated adaptation, female killifish can reproduce without needing males.

Now there's a stereotype-buster for you. More evidence in support of the pioneering but controversial biological work of Dr. Seuss. Anyone want to join me in my expedition in search of the last truffula tree?

hat tip: Brad

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The salmon dance

Fish ecology comes to life in a nutty fish video set to a song from the Chemical Brothers. You won't believe the beatbox blowfish.

Hat tip: Jason at cephalopodcast.com

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Punishment threat maintains orderly fish mating line

Imagine keeping order in a situation where only the top-ranked male and female are allowed to mate. It works in some small coral reef fish, but only with a strong threat of punishment.

Lower-ranked gobies not only keep their place in line, they starve themselves to stay small and non-threatening. Now that's an orderly queue.

What's the threat? Any lower-ranked fish who challenges the fish above gets expelled from the group for losing a fight. And that can mean death for these small fish who depend on the group's coral reef territory for shelter and food.

I guess it's better for a little fish to stay small and wait for their turn, rather than risk losing an all or nothing challenge to move up the line and get a chance to mate.

This is a classic example of a dominance hierarchy, such as the "pecking order" observed in chickens. It's fairly common in the animal world for social status to determine access to food or sex. Sounds like junior high school to me.

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