FishWiki

🐠 FORUMS UPDATE:
Discord has recently fixed a lot of bugs/issues with the forum channels, so we decided to fully utilize this feature for our support channels, feedback channel, and our partner channel!

🐠 UPDATED CHANNELS:
• #partners - Our lovely partners.
• #questions - A place to ask general questions about the hobby!
• #fish-care - Learn more about fish care!
• #plant-care - Discover how to care for your plants!
• #id-request - Don't know what something is? We can help!

🐠 HOW TO USE FORUMS:
• Select "New Post" to create a post.
• Make sure to add a title that briefly describes your issue.
• Make sure to describe in great detail your issue in the description of your post.
• Select the tag that best fits your issue(s).
• Adding an image will help us help you!
• https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/6208479917079-Forum-Channels-FAQ
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🐠 BOT UPDATE
FishMusic is being merged back into FISH6
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🐠 COMING SOON
Premium is coming to FishWiki but don't worry, we don't plan to lock ANYTHING behind a paywall.
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Good evening everyone, and welcome to tonight's Fish of the Day (until next week) #24 !

Let me introduce you to the Strawberry Squid (Histioteuthis heteropsis), with a size of around 20 cm, these squids can be found in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic Oceans, between depths of 1,000 meters (3,300ft) and the surface, where they come to feed at night alongside their twilight-zone buddies. 🍓

Bioluminescence is essential for many creatures of the twilight zone, mainly to communicate with one another but at the cost of potentially being spotted by a predator. That cost-benefit is on spectacular display in the strawberry squid, due to their strawberry-colored cells called photophores that dot its skin and provide a distinctive glow. Strawberry squid have the ability to perceive light in both dim and bright surroundings due to their asymmetrical eyes. It’s got this incredible ability to spy on silhouettes against the dimly lit waters from above, with its larger tubular eye. And seek out light from below, which is a sign of bioluminescent animals, using its smaller blue eye. Another fascinating adaptation are their semi-upright posture, which allows strawberry. squid to simultaneously look up, down, and sideways as it jets through the ocean.

And that is it for today's fish! Tomorrow we'll have a look at a user-requested fish, so stay tuned for that! Sources & a few more photos will be included in the thread.

Today we will be looking at the Pelican Eel (Aka Gulper eel)! Don’t let that name fool you though, it is neither a bird nor an eel.

This deep-sea dwelling fish was first named after a pelican, but once researchers began to learn more about its behavior, the name Gulper eel (among others) emerged which sums up the fish’s ability to expand its throat and stomach to accommodate food but also as a defense mechanism. When it comes to catching prey, pelican eels blow up its mouth to impressive dimensions which forms a net that can scoop up a squid or a swarm of shrimp, all in one quick gulp. That ability to blow itself up like a balloon was a handy adaptation for this opportunist.

Pelican eels aren’t entirely athletic hunters. With small beady eyes, these fish use a pink light on their rear fin to lure in prey. Not only do these fellows have tiny eyes, but they are also not the strongest swimmers— equipped with a whip-like tail and a lack of pelvic fins, swim bladders, and scales, it can’t do long-distance swimming. This may be the reason why pelican eels remain at depths of 500 to 3,000 meters (1,600-9,800ft) instead of joining their twilight zone buddies on a nightly migration to the surface for midnight snacks.

Pelican eels put much of their spare energy into finding a mate. Mature males grow larger olfactory organs (which regulate smell) in order to sniff out females, while simultaneously losing their teeth. Researchers believe it is due to the fish putting all of its resources into production to die soon after mating.

And that is the Pelican eel! Below, I've included a fun video of a group of researchers reacting to the fish's expanded throat. As usual, I'll be including sources as well as a gallery of Pelican eel closeups.