The Telescope Fish is one of the deep sea’s most strange and scary-looking creatures. Telescope fish is a deep sea creature; as you go deeper, the creature becomes weirder. It’s remarkable how animals adapt to any environment and situation.
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Telescope Fish Facts
- They like to live at the depths of 3000 meters in the ocean.
- Because of their huge jaws, they can even consume animals larger than themselves.
- They also hunt for prey with their large minion eyes.
- They have enormous jaws and like to eat fish based on their teeth.
Telescope Fish Evolution
Throughout their evolution, they have developed conspicuous tubular eyes. These tubular eyes help telescope fish in detecting food in the mesopelagic twilight zone.
The Telescope Fish has a fantastic jaw mechanism that allows them to swallow larger prey than themselves. Furthermore, the jaw mechanism helps them in folding the swollen prey into their stretchable stomach.
Telescope Fish Family
The Telescope Fish comes under the Giganturidae family. There are just two species in their whole family.
Telescope Fish Scientific Name
The scientific name of the Telescope Fish is Gigantura Chuni.
Telescope Fish Genus Name
The Genus name of the Telescope Fish is Gigantura.
In the word Gigantura, the first name Gigan comes from the Greek word ”Gigante” which means giant.
The last name tura comes from the Greek word “aura” which means tail. So, the meaning of the whole genus word “gigantura” is a giant tail. This word suits the telescope fish because they have the look of a giant tail.
Telescope Fish Common Name
The common name “Telescope Fish” comes from their strange-looking eyes.
Telescope Fish Distribution
The telescope fish are distributed in-marine ocean of the following places:
- Tasmania
- Southern Chile
- New Zealand
- Amsterdam
- Saint Paul
- Gough Island
Telescope Fish Habitat
The Telescope Fish are deep-sea dwellers, so they keep evolving in the dark oceans.
We can find the Telescope fish in temperate cool waters across sub-Antarctic places. Especially, they are found in over 66 feet of depths within water columns and up to 2000 miles below the water surfaces. That not only, we can also spot them in the surge channels and large low tidal pools.
Telescope Fish Hunting Preys
Their teeth are very sharp and needle-like, making them ideal for hunting slippery fish. So, to hunt their prey, they had to first detect it, which may be difficult in the huge ocean. However, as they evolved, they perfected their hunting technique.
Their huge telescope-like eyes enable them to detect even minute amounts of bioluminescence. Though their eyesight is superb in the dark, they are even better at detecting silhouettes from below.
That is why, like the king of herrings, telescope fish lie vertically in the water column facing upwards, not only to identify prey but also to avoid being observed.
Telescope Fish Groups
Telescope fish always move in groups to make hunting their prey simpler. Hunting in groups also protects them from potential predators since the group keeps an eye on everyone’s six for predators.
Telescope Fish Breeding
As solitary (have solitude nature) creatures in the deep ocean, telescope fish are broadcast spawners (female fish that are ready to spawn). Finding a partner in the deep ocean is difficult enough; the sperm and eggs will float in the water, hopefully, meet, and then be fertilized and produce larvae.
The juvenile stage of this fish is so distinct from the adult stage that when the larvae were discovered, they were assumed to be a whole other species of fish.
Telescope Fish Adaptation
The Telescope Fish’s best adaptations are its vision and mouth. They couldn’t survive in much worse situations without them.
The Telescope Fish is even more strange because it lacks ventral fins, which most fishes do. The cause for this is unknown, however, it might be related to their strange and primitive larval form.
Given the significant changes they undergo, they never develop ventral fins. They can, however, swim very well without them due to the large tails that their scientific name “gigantura” refers to.
Telescope Fish Threats
Because these fishes are difficult to research, nothing is known about their predators or population size. However, because they are towards the top of the food chain, we may conclude that they are affected by the ocean wastes of plastic.
Due to the inherent dangers of increasing concentrations of toxic chemicals the higher trophic levels, are called bioaccumulation. This bioaccumulation is especially common in marine creatures.
You shouldn’t eat them, but why would you want to? Let me know in the comments!
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