Fish vs. Sargassum | National Geographic

you’ve heard of a survival of the
fittest well our next creature fits a
category called survival of the fittest
it’s the Sargassum fish and it’s evolved
itself into a perfect predator because
it perfectly and we mean perfectly
mimics the Sargassum plant that gives it
its name fish come to the Sargassum
plant hoping to harvest what are called
hydroids instead they find themselves
staring into the eyeball of certain doom
unfortunately the fish don’t pick up on
this if they did they’d be making a
hasty retreat the Sargassum fish is the
big bad wolf of this part of the ocean
off Florida’s coast here’s how clever
the Sargassum disguise really is it’s
Bobby doesn’t just mimic the color of
the clam
those white spots in the fish even mimic
the tube worms and hydroids that grow in
the Sargassum plan result before its
prey can say hey I’m getting eaten by a
plant it’s already been eaten by this
sly predator here’s something even
creepier its fins have evolved into
prehensile fingers the better to creep
through the foliage with as it searches
for more and better prey
the Sargassum fish will eat other fish
almost its own size and here’s the
creepiest part of all because of its
translucent skin you can actually watch
the victim experience his death throes
inside the Sargassum fish