“I was amazed that this color change was happening post mortem,” she said. “It gave me this idea that maybe the skin was seeing its surroundings.”

Temperature and deck pressure likely had more to do with that particular color change, she said, but the encounter spurred new research that suggests Schweikert was half right: hogfish can “see” using their skin, so to speak, but they likely can’t perceive their surroundings.

Instead, they may just see their own skin.