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Spookfish Uses Mirrors For Eyes

Posted by timothy on from the still-working-on-the-trenchcoat dept.

Kligat writes "The brownsnout spookfish in the Pacific is the first known vertebrate to use mirrors to focus light into its eyes. Despite being a species known for 120 years, this was not known until a live specimen was caught between New Zealand and Samoa last year. The fish lives over 1,000 meters below the ocean's surface, so the light focused by the mirrors' perfectly curved surfaces provides a major advantage over other fish."

1 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. Re:That's Spooky! by mr_mischief · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There's an old saying that fish rot from the head first. Perhaps no dead specimens have been found with the eyes intact, and they've not yet cut the live specimen up to test the eyes.