Interesting fish on Wikipedia

I was browsing the wikipedia looking for nice, interesting facts about fish. Here's a cool one:

'Anableps: ... They have eyes raised above the top of the head and divided in two different parts, so that they can see below and above the water surface at the same time... they only mate on one side, right-"handed" males with left-"handed" females and vice versa. ...'

How, bizarre.

How about this one (again, from Wikipedia)?

'Meekong catfish: Attaining an unconfirmed length of 3 m, the Mekong giant catfish grows extremely quickly, reaching a mass of 150 to 200 kg in only six years.[6] The largest catch recorded in Thailand since record-keeping began in 1981 was a female measuring 2.7 m (roughly 9 feet) in length and weighing 293 kg (646 lb).'

What's the freakiest fish you've read about?

Ooooh, and the angler fish is pretty cool: 'Anglerfish are bony fish ... named for their characteristic mode of predation, wherein a fleshy growth from the fish's head (the esca) acts as a lure; this is considered analogous to angling.'. Pretty fierce-looking too.

Again, source is Wikipedia.

 

The Ugly Fish. (Seriously, that's the name it's been given)
It looks kind of like a cross between a mudskipper and a rockfish, and it is really ugly as all getout. If you've ever seen the Malcolm in the Middle where Reese is cooking Thanksgiving dinner, it's uglier than the monkfish he pulls out. The things have something of a cross between flippers and fins, and can walk on land. They also have lungs.
One was caught in a New England pond, and they decided to sterilize the entire pond because they were afraid that if there were others, they could travel to other water sources. They are potentially the ultimate invasive water species.

For that matter, the monkfish itself. It's a member of the anglerfish family that hides on the bottom of the ocean. These things get huge, about five feet in length, and are almost as wide as they are long. Their jaws are about as wide as their body, so they can swallow some really big fish whole.

 

The Ugly Fish. (Seriously, that's the name it's been given)
It looks kind of like a cross between a mudskipper and a rockfish, and it is really ugly as all getout. If you've ever seen the Malcolm in the Middle where Reese is cooking Thanksgiving dinner, it's uglier than the monkfish he pulls out. The things have something of a cross between flippers and fins, and can walk on land. They also have lungs.
One was caught in a New England pond, and they decided to sterilize the entire pond because they were afraid that if there were others, they could travel to other water sources. They are potentially the ultimate invasive water species.

Oh, man, you're not kidding. Just looked a picture up. That is one ugly fish!

How interesting about how it moves and its lungs. Verrrry interesting.

I luuurve Malcom in the middle. Great show.

 

Lots of deep water fish in that second post. There was also a type of anglerfish.

 

Shame they were all dead.

 

yea, those super deep water fish that never see light are the craziest looking fish. they look like fish from an ocean on another planet.

 

So many things do. That's why I am crazy about zoology. One of my favorite creatures is the sea slugs. They look stunningly beautiful, and completely out of this world. They look like creatures you'd have made up for a video game.

 

So many things do. That's why I am crazy about zoology. One of my favorite creatures is the sea slugs. They look stunningly beautiful, and completely out of this world. They look like creatures you'd have made up for a video game.

they really are such fascinating creatures. it's amazing what lies undiscovered still in our planet's oceans, rivers and other bodies of water. Like the recently discovered galaxy rasboras, mahachaI bettas and (closer to me) the albino alligator.

 

Are albino alligators a recent discovery?

One of my hobbies is collecting albino animal pix. You wouldn't believe the sort of things that can be born albinos. I have a great picture of an albino baby crocodile. I also have a great kangoroo and one of my favorites is an albino blackbird. I don't take the pictures myself, but I collect them while browsing here and there.

I have this tree of life project (yes I have registered in the geek thread, thank you very much) whereby I try to save a picture of at least one typical or interesting example of every family in the animal kingdom. Am not that far obviously as there's soooo much, but it's fun to browse through the directory structure that I've created. My vertebrates are getting quite complete. I am nowhere on fish, as they are SOOOOO difficult to classify. Started about 7 yrs ago.

P.S. I can't get that 'white and nerdy' music out of my head, BettaCouple! ;D

 

Are albino alligators a recent discovery?

P.S. I can't get that 'white and nerdy' music out of my head, BettaCouple! ;D

yes, they're not albino versions of american alligators, but an actual separate species found only in a small area in the southeastern US. They are a recent discovery and the alligator farm zoological park here has 2 of them.

 

That looks cool. Do you happen to know the species' (or subspecies) name?

You're so lucky living in Florida. The most exciting native species here is squirrels, and you don't even see them that often! I guess pheasants are also pretty, and they're really common. Oh, and we get loooooads of herons, but am sure you do too in Florida, right?

 

That looks cool. Do you happen to know the species' (or subspecies) name?

You're so lucky living in Florida. The most exciting native species here is squirrels, and you don't even see them that often! I guess pheasants are also pretty, and they're really common. Oh, and we get loooooads of herons, but am sure you do too in Florida, right?

squirrels are everywhere here.. quite often on the road.. those little critters are the most suicidal animals! you often have to go out of your way to not hit them. yes, lots of herons here of many species.

I stand corrected, they are american alligators but a rare genetic anomoly of them.

 

Oh, right. They're the same species as the Americans, then. Just checked your link. I went to that alligator farm (St Augustine) myself! What a small world.

 

Oh, right. They're the same species as the Americans, then. Just checked your link. I went to that alligator farm (St Augustine) myself! What a small world.

We take friends/family there - it's one of the worthwhile tourist attractions in this tourist-oriented town.

 

Wow, Armadillo. I did a little search on the fauna of the Netherlands. You're right, there's not much wildlife. However, in the 8% of the land that has birch forests, you can find badgers, and I'm sure there are mushrooms there. I wonder, are there snakes in the Netherlands? Because, if so, you've got all the makings of the most pointless, yet well-known web animations.
What's worse, that's where the US is heading. Too many people willing to throw nature by the wayside in order to get another acre of farmland or another ton of lumber or another sprawling housing development. They refuse to believe that what has happened in other countries can happen here.

 

Wow, Armadillo. I did a little search on the fauna of the Netherlands. You're right, there's not much wildlife. However, in the 8% of the land that has birch forests, you can find badgers, and I'm sure there are mushrooms there. I wonder, are there snakes in the Netherlands? Because, if so, you've got all the makings of the most pointless, yet well-known web animations.
What's worse, that's where the US is heading. Too many people willing to throw nature by the wayside in order to get another acre of farmland or another ton of lumber or another sprawling housing development. They refuse to believe that what has happened in other countries can happen here.

talk about it.. I sometimes wonder if the developers aren't just going to pave the entire state of florida.

 

You're right. Hardly any nature in in The Netherlands. To be honest, I don't find this country pretty at all. It's got nice old medieval cities, that's true, but there is absolutely no country side round my way. It's ALL been taken over by civilisation.

The Netherlands are the most densely populated country in Europe and you really feel it in that people tend to be really aggressive, competitive and pushy. Also, you can't look anywhere and you see concrete or a man-made structure. They've re-claimed 25% of their land area from the sea so it's also very flat with very little hillsides etc. Cannot wait to move. Don't care where, anywhere but basically. Still need to convince my boyfriend (he's Dutch and has a lot of ties here).

I think the badgers are endangered here. I've certainly never seen one in the wild.

 

sounds like a place i'd not be happy living either.

 

I wouldn't mind living there, but once I got the trebuchet done, my neighbors wouldn't like me very much.

 

Yep, it's a bit of a pain. Buuuut, there are good things too:

• they have windmills everywhere. That's really cute.
• Oh, and they cycle everywhere.
• And they're a real health-conscious nation, I like that too. I don't think there's a as bad an obesity problem here in The Netherlands as in other western nations.
• And they REALLY are a democracy. Like the minute politicians contemplate doing something new or slightly controversial, this whole democratic process kicks in and protestors start making themselves heard and HAVE to be listened to and something happens, QUICK. It's pretty cool. For a while, they de-criminalised' squatters! The squatters' side of the dialog was that the housing was too expensive and the government just went 'fair enough'.
• The best thing about Holland? 'Kinderboerderijen' They're petting zoos with lots of animals and huge enclosures that you can actually get in to pet the animals. In England, petting zoos tend to be few and far between, and don't tend to be as huge. The Dutch petting zoos tend to be free, and every town has at least 2 or 3. It's great if you ever have the blues: go pet some goats!

So I guess it's not all bad. Oh, wait, but there's my mother in law...

 

I wouldn't mind living there, but once I got the trebuchet done, my neighbors wouldn't like me very much.

LOL You could always use it to propulse cheese. That's about the only thing they think a vegetarian eats. I am sooooo sick of cheese sandwiches when everybody else is having a full steak meal!

 

Wow. That's an odd combination. A health conscious nation without many vegetarian options for food.

 

Yep! Go figure. 

You go to McDonalds there and ask for a veggie burger and they give you the empty bread buns with salad on the best of days (wish I was kidding). On bad days, they also get annoyed with you because you also consider chicken and fish an animal. Argh! Give me patience.

 

I can tell you one worse. McDs here don't have veggie burgers, either. They also charge (or at least used to) $.40 to leave the meat off of the big mac. That's right, save them two patties of beef, and you owe them money. Our Burger Kings do have veggie burgers, however. Aside from that, most privately owned restaurants have a pretty good vegetarian selection.

Alright, so chicken is on the line between plant and animal, but how can you consider fish an animal? That's just craziness.

 

Really? McD in the UK does serve veggie food. Huh, funny. I figured it was just Holland. Outrageous that they actually CHARGE you!

Fish = animal ;D

 

Yep! Go figure.

You go to McDonalds there and ask for a veggie burger and they give you the empty bread buns with salad on the best of days (wish I was kidding). On bad days, they also get annoyed with you because you also consider chicken and fish an animal. Argh! Give me patience.

lol.. well mcdonalds always uses mystery ingredients you'd rather not know about anyways.

 

That's true. Who knows if you ARE getting beef when you do get the meat in the bun? Maybe they're charging veggies for saving their lives!

 

That's true. Who knows if you ARE getting beef when you do get the meat in the bun? Maybe they're charging veggies for saving their lives!

lol.. I think mcdonalds gets road kill cheap.