Camouflaged Fish Sneak Attack | National Geographic

you’ve heard of the 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 sarcasms disguise really is it’s
Bobby doesn’t just mimic the color of
the clam
those white spots in the fish even mimic
the two worms and hydroids that grow in
the Sargassum plant result before its
prey can say hey I’m getting eaten by a
plant it’s already been eaten by this
sly predator there’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