Backwards-walking fish caught on video in the South China Sea
Popular Science...
The deep-sea is filled with weird creatures: goblin sharks (Mitsukurina owstoni), vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis), and… walking fish? For the first known time, a team of scientists in China filmed a strange, shrimp-like fish walking backward along the seafloor.
The fish, Scalicus engyceros, is a species of armored searobin, a group of fish known for weird anatomy. Their bodies are covered in bony plates, while stiff free fin rays stick out of its pectoral rays like tiny legs it can use to “walk.”
The new study, published in the journal Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research, not only provides video evidence of the animal’s sea-floor strolls, but it also marks the first time backwards locomotion has been described in fish.
“[Our] study delivers a paradigm-shifting revelation: the deep-sea fish Scalicus engyceros, a representative of fishes characterized by highly specialized free pectoral-fin rays, is among the few fish species known to walk,” said Han Tian, a postdoctoral researcher at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, in a statement.
The video was taken from a deep-sea diving vehicle in the northern South China Sea that also helped the researchers observe the fish’s other unique traits. It has outward-extending barbels that resemble a farmer’s rake. While the barbel makes it awkward for the fish to walk, it provides “an advantage in probing, digging, or hunting for food buried in the sediment,” according to the team.
Like other deep-sea creatures, Scalicus engyceros also has large eyes. The researchers note that the fish did not seem to react to the approaching vehicle, but it did appear to react to its light beam before swimming away. This suggests its eyes have at least some sensitivity to light, perhaps pointing to the fish not having lived in this habitat for very long.
While there’s still much to learn about this mysterious creature, advancements in technology are helping scientists better understand the life way beneath our oceans’ surface.
“Modern deep-sea diving vehicles allow not only discovery of new species but also add a new in situ, functional dimension to the study of species based solely on the morphology of preserved specimens,” said Tian.
“By observing deep sea animals alive in their surrounding environment, we can gain insight into the adaptation and evolution of the species. These walking fish harbor far more novel behavioral and evolutionary adaptations than previously assumed.”
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