First up is this giant freshwater stingray (Himantura chaophraya), which was found during a National Geographic expedition in Thailand. These stingray however, were first discovered by scientists in 1989 (probably much earlier by local fishermen). The one in this picture here was estimated to weigh 250-450kg!! Check out the previous article about their finding in Cambodia too-the mummy giant stingray just gave birth to a baby!
Next up is this deep sea Pacific barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma), which has a transparent head, not unlike that of a helicopter cockpit! Isn't this cool!
For a closer look at the fish: Note the 2 beady-like parts that look like the eyes, but are not! The eyes are actually safely protected behind the transparent "shield"-look at the greyish barrel like structures topped with the green orbital lens, those are the eyes! They are really cool creatures cuz these eyes are really sensitive, probably a requirement because they live at depths of 600m, where light is really scarce. The green lens are thought to function to filter out the green bioluminescence from their prey.
Unbelieveable? Well I thought so too, initially when my friend first showed it to me. But after seeing a post on it on my other friend's blog, it finally piqued my curiosity enough to check it out on the National Geographic webbie. The video clip gives quite a good view of the fish in action. Check it out! :)If you still have time to spare, explore the website! http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ There are so many cool stuff :) Or if you don't have time, search for the sargassum fish and watch the video. It's pretty cool too, how this fish camouflages perfectly to help itself hunt prey. Plus it has a transparent body, and you can watch how the prey actually goes into the sargassum fish, and ultimately .. dies... But that's nature ;p
