Fish with a transparent head has a unique optical eye system

For a long time, deep-sea fish with a transparent head were perceived by ichthyologists not as a separate representative of the fish family, but as an ugly marine creature. It is possible that it fell into fishing networks earlier, but for the first time it was described in 1939. Then the scuba divers caught it in the abyss and tried to get it out of the water to study. But it turned out that a fish with a transparent head is unable to survive in other conditions. A transparent hollow ball covering her head bursts already in the upper layers of the water.

The fishermen called her big eyes for her big eyes . Indeed, a fish with a transparent head has eyes similar to two large cylinders compared to its body. This unique optical system It has a high degree of photosensitivity and can very accurately focus on the object. Practically a fish with a transparent head has two powerful binoculars, capable of recognizing objects even in absolute darkness. Interestingly, her body is small and slightly flattened from the sides. It has a length of only ten to twelve centimeters, but its green eyes in the transparent bubble covering the head are pronounced and do not combine with a small mouth.

It is interesting that only in 2004, scientists-ichthyologists were able to study this species of fish in the world ocean thanks to the appearance of new deep-water equipment.

With the help of such a device, a fish with a transparent head inhabiting a considerable depth was photographed, photos and video filming made it possible to collect unique material about its habits. Therefore, today we know for sure that there are many such amazing creatures in the sea, and that they are all independent species of a very small family of opistoproctic fish.

Their habitat is located at a depth of two hundred and fifty to two thousand five hundred meters. Scientists have already studied ten members of this family. It is remarkable that some of them met them in only a few copies. But the heroine of our story - a fish with a transparent head - is very numerous and widespread in the northern waters of the Pacific Ocean. Often find it in the waters that wash the banks of Kamchatka.

According to scientists, the deep-water habitat in the northern latitudes is the reason for the lack of vitamin D in the body, so its skeleton is poorly developed. Her muscular system is also not strong, but her fins are wide and strong. Therefore, it was concluded that an unmoored macropine does not float a great deal over long distances in the horizontal direction, but extracts food, maneuvering in the water column mainly along the vertical.

Studies have confirmed this assumption. Fish with a transparent head is perfectly maneuvering while searching for food. If during the day she hunts for drifting mollusks, plunging to a depth of up to two kilometers, then at night can approach the surface of the water to twenty meters deep, where her favorite jellyfish live. A transparent spherical dome of the head allows the fish to continuously monitor, scanning the space. When an interesting object is found, it focuses on it and overtakes the prey.