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Craziest Looking Fish EVAH!

By mikethemadbiologist on March 1, 2009.

barreleye2-350
The green globs, inside the head, are the eyes

Imagine a fish with eyes that slide around in its head--which looks like a fighter cockpit. Meet the barreleye fish, Macropinna microstoma:

Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute recently solved the half-century-old mystery of a fish with tubular eyes and a transparent head. Ever since the "barreleye" fish Macropinna microstoma was first described in 1939, marine biologists have known that its tubular eyes are very good at collecting light. However, the eyes were believed to be fixed in place and seemed to provide only a "tunnel-vision" view of whatever was directly above the fish's head. A new paper by Bruce Robison and Kim Reisenbichler shows that these unusual eyes can rotate within a transparent shield that covers the fish's head. This allows the barreleye to peer up at potential prey or focus forward to see what it is eating.

I wonder what the cutting-edge of baraminology will make of this....

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