Fish With Transparent Head Filmed | National Geographic

photograph 2,000 feet deep in the
Pacific Ocean off the California coast
the macro pen of micro stoma known as
the barreleye fish is small and dark
with large fins a tiny mouth and unusual
barrel eyes under a transparent dome the
two green spheres in the video are the
lenses of its tubular eyes the eyes are
enclosed within the transparent shield
sort of like the glass canopy of the jet
fighter above the mouth the two dark
capsules that appear to be eyes actually
contain the fishes olfactory organs or
the equivalent of nostrils typically the
barreleye sits quietly in the water
using its big fins for stability while
it scans the water above for food when
its spots food it can rotate its eyes to
look forward to include its mouth in the
field of view scientists speculate that
the barreleye steals food from
siphonophores elongated jellies with
tentacles that capture prey that swims
into them they believe the barreleye
swims into the tentacles and steals the
food from the siphonophore the shield
over its eyes protects them from the
stinging cells of the siphonophore
tentacles the barreleye can also rotate
its eyes to avoid predators or avoid
being captured by scientists
the fish discovered alive by the
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
is the first specimen of its kind to be
found with its soft transparent dome
intact it had been known since 1939 but
only from mangled specimens dragged to
the surface by Nets