Named for their shape, these little beauties range from 1-6 inches, are very thin, and have large upward facing eyes that are thought to be used to locate prey above them. They are vertical migrators, meaning that they swim from the depths to upper waters to hunt. Possibly on plankton and small fish.
And what makes these guys so neat? They sport very fashionable ventral (belly) photophores (bioluminescence. ....They glow. I understand they are very hip with the Raver crowd. If anyone even does that anymore.).
It is thought these fish use their bioluminescence to disrupt their silhuettes from predators below them. And considering Deep Sea Hatchet Fish live at depths from 600-4500 ft, whatever lives beneath them would be worth hiding from. Ersh.
So here are a few pics of some of the Hatchets I've done. They have glow-in-the-dark photophores, and are silvery and glittery. I sometimes make the eyes glow and add an extra bunch of photophores along the side. Why? Because it's spooky. And I felt like it. Argue with that, Cousteau.
I think after puffers, hatchets are the fish I make most often. And after every one I swear I'll never make another.
9 comments:
Hatchet fish undertake nightly migrations en masse, from depths of 3,600 meters to the upper 50-100 meters of the starlit water column. There they feed throughout the night, returning to the depths by daybreak. Their prey consists primarily of tiny cope pods, amphipods, ostracods, euphausiids and other fish.
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Stephanieluis
Guaranteed ROI
spooky spooky love love
I thought they would be bigger - to discover that they are only a few inches is a surprise! *cough*
i think you really captured the spooky quality of these "vertical migrators". i just love the clear glass eye and the expressions on the two lower fish. I love that they have those glowing parts on the bottom - these are so cool, Adelle!
Stranger than fiction!
Amazing fish....
Beautiful...... :D
Very nice!! Well done!
Lovely!! *pets* awww, you wanna friend? good fishie!
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