Weird Fish With Transparent Head

Although this picture was taken in 2004, scientists have just now released the shocking picture of the weird fish with the transparent head. This Pacific barrel eye fish shows off its highly sensitive, barrel-like eyes topped by green, orb like lenses.

The fish, discovered alive in the deep water off California’s central coast by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), is the first specimen of its kind to be found with its soft transparent dome intact.

The 6-inch (15-centimeter) barreleye (Macropinna microstoma) had been known since 1939–but only from mangled specimens dragged to the surface by nets.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Interesting Fish. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.