Jakarta –
Our oceans have a very wide area when compared to the land. This causes the oceans to hold so many mysteries, especially for creatures that live in the deep sea.
One of them is a type of deep sea fish. The extreme environment makes deep-sea fish have features that are quite different from the fish we are used to. An example of a deep-sea fish is the barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma).
This fish lives in the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean, at a depth of about 600 to 800 meters. Uniquely, this fish has tube eyes that can rotate and look up through its transparent head.
Barreleye lenses appear green, but they are actually colored with yellow pigment. This lens color will help the Barreleye fish to distinguish between sunlight and bioluminescence, the phenomenon of light emitted from living bodies.
Weird Eye Feature Function
The twilight zone of the ocean, the layer of water from 200 to 1,000 m below the surface, can receive enough sunlight for creatures living in this area to cast faint shadows.
The shadow they create will be visible to predators hidden beneath them. This has caused some deep-sea creatures to develop light-producing organs on their undersides to match the light on the surface of the water below.
But unlike this one fish, the barreleye eye trick will function by filtering sunlight. This function will prevent them from being fooled by other creatures trying to erase their shadows, according to the explanation quoted from the Live Science page.
Transparent Head function
Usually barreleyes will float silently in the dark until they find a potential meal that is passing above them. Then, they will immediately move up to catch their prey with their mouths.
After the barreleye has caught its prey, this fish will fix its eyes on the prey by turning the eyes to a forward-facing position.
In 2021, scientists managed to videotape one of the barreleye fish in Canyon Monterey, off the coast of California. These fish will usually eat zooplankton and small crustaceans called copepods.
Scientists speculate that the barreleye fish makes use of crustaceans and larvae trapped in the tentacles of siphonophores, jellyfish-like organisms that form strands up to 40 meters in length, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Barreleye’s transparent head may protect them from the stinging cells on the tentacles. However, this function and many aspects of the life of the barreleye are still not fully understood.
Watch Video “5 Animals with High Intelligence”
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2023-08-09 02:30:00
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