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Red-lipped Batfish — printable fact sheet
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Red-lipped Batfish
Ogcocephalus darwini
Ogcocephalus darwini is a fish that has given up swimming. It lives on the sandy bottom around the Galapagos and Peru, at 3 to 120 m, and it walks on modified pectoral, pelvic and anal fins that it uses as legs, propping itself up and shuffling across the sediment; when forced t…
Did you know?
- Despite its striking appearance, the Red-lipped Batfish is not poisonous and poses no threat to humans.
- The species is named after Charles Darwin, and it is one of the emblematic oddities of the Galapagos even though almost no tourist ever sees one. Batfish body shape works like a hydrofoil, so a resting individual can hold position in current without effort — the animal is engineered for sitting still, not for going anywhere. Its illicium is homologous with the deep-sea anglerfish's glowing lure but has no bioluminescent bacteria, because at these depths there is enough light that a chemical attractant works better.
What I learned
Draw the red-lipped batfish
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