Lavoie blog

Ghost fish (family opisthoproctaceae) is one of the most unusual inhabitants of the deep sea. She was associated with a nightmare thanks to her eyes - two large orange spheres.

In order not to get caught in the teeth of a predator, this fish must be constantly on the alert - even when it hunts itself. That is, she needs a circular review. And she has one.

The eyes of the ghost fish are divided into two parts, so that it can look both forward and backward at the same time. It's like having an extra pair of eyes in the back of your head.

Only in the case of our fish, this is not a separate pair of eyes, but a complex system with built-in curved plates resembling a mirror, which allow you to capture the subtlest glow half a kilometer below the surface of the water. That is, it’s more likely not even eyes on the back of the head, but a pair of special glasses with built-in mirrors that allow you to see what is happening behind.

When a ghost fish goes hunting, the little black eyes that you see on the sides are looking for future food. And what looks like big orange eyes from above is the reverse side of the mirror surface, which captures the biological glow and warns of the appearance of predators.

Bats (a species called "vampires") are the only mammals that feed on blood. An unusually subtle development of feeling is connected with this gastronomic addiction, thanks to which, by the way, bats received their extremely unaesthetic nose from mother nature. This sense allows animals to "see" the blood running through your veins.

The nose of the "vampires" is equipped with a kind of infrared detector that reacts to changes in body temperature - at a distance. This is already amazing, because other mammals, including you and me, need to touch an object in order to tell whether it is warm or cold. But the most striking thing is that they are able to determine which vein is of greatest interest to them.

Their "thermal sensors" are so advanced that they don't have to waste time repeatedly thrusting their teeth into the flesh of their prey. "Vampires" hit right in the vein, and always on the first try.

For a long time, scientists wondered why the narwhal needed this strange tusk, sharpening from the head. And finally found out. First of all, the tusk turned out to be not even a tusk at all, but a tooth. One (occasionally two) long, spiraling tooth covered with ten million nerve endings.

Studies have shown, for example, that a narwhal can determine the degree of salinity of water with its teeth. Why do they need it? The salt content affects the freezing of water. And if you live among floating ice floes and breathe air, then it is very important for you to know that at any moment you can rise to the surface.

So the tusk-tooth is a device that can predict the formation of ice. And not only. It can determine the temperature, water pressure, and if it is raised into the air, then the barometric pressure.

The average human has 10,000 lingual papillae. And they are all concentrated in one place - in the language. According to the statements of one neurophysiologist and, concurrently, a fish specialist, a catfish 15 centimeters long has at least 250,000 taste buds. And they are located throughout its body. That is, in which place you do not touch him, he will always feel what you taste like. Unless, of course, it's fried.

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