Psychedelica

Fish are having a good news week. Yesterday I posted about a fish that can see through the back of it's head, and today came reports of a recently discovered species of fish called Histiophryne psychedelica - named for it's trippy coloring and because the way it swims, it almost looks intoxicated.

The fish is the size of your fist and has folds of thick skin to protect it from the corals amongst which it hunts. Scientists describe it's swimming motion as "hopping," which is made possible by "leg-like" fins, and is something that has never been observed before.

Check out this post on 60 Second Science for a better video of it's unusual swimming style.