The Fish That Sees Through Its Own Head

Transcription

Those two dark spots above its mouth look like eyes, but they actually detect smells.

The real eyes are the green shapes inside that clear, fluid-filled dome.

They point upward, spotting faint silhouettes of food against the light from above.

But when the fish feeds, its eyes rotate forward, keeping its meal in view.

Its transparent dome lets light reach eyes that can look up or turn forward.

It lives hundreds of metres down, where sunlight is fading into darkness.

So this fish really does look straight through its own forehead.

Attribution

Original AI-assisted illustrations and animation by AskPandi, based on MBARI research; voiceover generated with ElevenLabs. ^{[1] [2] [3]}