When you purchase through links on our site , we may pull in an affiliate direction . Here ’s how it works .
Name : Barreleye Pisces the Fishes ( Macropinna microstoma )
Where it endure : The Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean , between 2,000 and 2,600 feet ( 600 and 800 meters ) deep
Barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma) can rotate their eyes to track prey.
What it wipe out : Zooplankton and small crustacean called copepods
Why it ’s awesome : As their name suggests , barreleye Pisces have really weird tubular eyes that they can turn out to gaze upward through their filmy foreheads . Although they come along green , the lense are in reality tinct with a yellow pigment that help these flaky Pisces distinguish between sunlight and bioluminescence .
Related : Weirdo blink Pisces could hold the secrets to how our ascendant evolved to live on land , new field reveals
The sea ’s fall zone — the layer of piddle from 650 to 3,300 foot ( 200 to 1,000 m ) below the aerofoil — receives just enough sunlight for animal to cast a light shadow . Their silhouette are seeable to predators waylay below , which is whysome deep - ocean crittershave develop light - bring forth organ on their undersides to match the downwelling light . But barreleyes ' optical trick — which works by filter out sun — stops them being fooled by creatures endeavor to delete their dark .
This barreleye Pisces the Fishes has a transparent head ! This fish can actually seem up through their own head to see what ’s above it . Its tubular eyes aid barreleyes both see prey silhouetted against the lighted waters above and what ’s in front of them ! # FishyFriday pic.twitter.com/JM7bJvZrt8December 17 , 2021
Barreleyes hover motionless in the nighttime until they spot a potential repast passing overhead . They then dart upward to snag it in their mouth and fix their eye on their prey by splay them into a forward - looking position .
— Unicorn - like blind Pisces discovered in dark waters deep in Chinese cave
— Deep - sea Pisces with bulb on its headway enigmatically washes ashore in California
— Why are cave - dwelling eels raise skin over their remaining centre ? It may be evolution in action .
In 2021 , scientists capturedfootage of one of these seldom seen , deep - ocean weirdosin the Monterey Canyon , off the coast of California . They mull that barreleye Pisces the Fishes help oneself themselves to a counter of crustaceans and larvae that get catch in the tentacles of siphonophore — jellyfish - like organisms that form strings up to 130 feet ( 40 m ) long , according to theMonterey Bay Aquarium .
Barreleyes ' see-through helmets may protect them from stinging cell on these tentacle — but this , as well as many other panorama of these creatures ' lives , remain uncertain .
