The New England Aquarium education staff frequently talks about how intelligent and trainable lumpfish are, but man, this video really brings it home. I’ve seen fish trained to swim through hoops before, but the spin behavior is really cool (and the super retro music definitely set the tone of the entire video).
Go snorkeling on a coral reef, and you’ll have a hard time not being
impressed by the abundance and variety of the fish there. But the fish
most divers see make up less than half of the number (and less than half
the species) of fish on the reef.
Cryptobenthic reef fishes comprise
the other half. These fish are small, usually less than 2 inches in
length, and hide in coral habitats, either by appearance or by their
behavior. Even scientists have been slow to start searching for them,
but cryptobenthics are turning up in about every reef habitat where
scientists have bothered to look!
In the June 5 issue of Current Biology, SERC Scientist Simon Brandl and colleague Christopher Goatley of the University of New England published a quick guide
to cryptobenthic reef fishes. Brandl thinks that these little fishes
deserve more recognition, and we agree! Therefore, we’re happy to
present these honorees with the following awards…
What do you think is going on here? I thought at first that the white goby was just trying to burrow in a bad spot, but it does seem to be intentionally throwing sand on the jawfish. Both of those are fairly intelligent fish species who are very good at moving sand, so I don’t think that much targeted movement of sand into the tunnel is accidental.
My only guess is maybe the jawfish (blue) stole the goby’s tunnel, and the goby is trying to drive it out.
The clownfish, I’m guessing, is hanging around in hopes that the digging unearths tasty snacks. That, or it’s trying to intimidate the others.
Hagfish are widely considered the most disgusting animals in the ocean, if not on earth (not by me motherfuckers). The eel-shaped creatures use four pairs of thin sensory tentacles
surrounding their mouths to find food—including carcasses of much larger
animals. Once they find their meal, they bury into it face-first to
bore a tunnel deep into its flesh.
Despite the fact that they seem repulsive, they are undoubtedly
unique—and just because animals are disgusting to human sensibilities
doesn’t mean they don’t deserve our attention and protection. That is
the message behind Hagfish Day,
which occurs every year on the third Wednesday of October: that we can
find beauty in the ugly and protect all ocean animals. Here are 14 fun
facts about the unusual group of animals…
Bluestreak wrasses can also remember if the most recent interaction with
one of its hundred-plus clients was positive or negative. If it
previously mistreated a valuable customer —a big fish with lots of
parasites, for example — the wrasse will offer an apology in the form of a more pleasant cleaning with an added fin ‘massage.’
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