One of the World’s Rarest Fish Swims Upside Down While Hunting

One of the World’s Rarest Fish Swims Upside Down While Hunting

Source: fieldandstream

8/25/2022

One of the World’s Rarest Fish Swims Upside Down While Hunting

Credit: Henrik Lauridsen

Researchers recently increased their understanding of one of the world’s rarest fish. Using CT and MRI scanners, they were able to expose the physiology of a coelacanth (pronounced SEE-l-kanth) and—found something surprising. The rare, endangered, deep-sea fish is designed to attack its prey while swimming upside down. The scientists call it “headstand drift hunting.”

“It’s quite unique,” Henrik Lauridsen, Aarhus University Department of Clinical Medicine associate professor in Denmark said in a press release. “The heaviest parts are at either end of the fish, which makes it easy for the fish to stand itself on its head.”