Current brings out the best of fish life, especially shoals of
batfish and jacks.
After spending time in quarantine, the
batfish will go into the aquarium's giant 250,000 litre coral reef display - close to 1,000 times the size of its previous home.
Other top discoveries include Tyrannobdella rex - a leech found in a woman's nose - and the Louisiana pancake
batfish that hops on its wings.
A top 10 choice in the fish category is a pancake
batfish that lives in waters either partially or fully encompassed by the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Giant Trevally, Bigeye Trevally, Rainbow Runners and
Batfish are among others species that tend to prefer the water surface.
All are taken from sustainable stocks only Fish in the tanks include the parrot fish, the humphead wrasse, blacktip reef sharks, brightly coloured fusiliers, the small Red Sea fairy baslet,
batfish and an intriguing leopard shark, among others.
But Hixon highly doubts it, since surveys of exotics off Florida show only popular aquarium fish (emperor angelfish, yellow tang, orbicular
batfish) as invaders, not a random sampling of fish from Pacific ports of call, as one would expect if ballast water were the vector.
To get really up close and personal you should don diving gear and take a stroll with the cute
batfish, the friendly-faced bullethead parrotfish and even the odd blacktip reef shark, which is apparently harmless and doesn't deserve the bad press usually accorded to the species.
Nora the
batfish, who is the size of a dinner plate, was donated to Tynemouth's Blue Reef Aquarium in time for Halloween.
USS
Batfish & War Memorial Park Muskogee, (918) 682-6294.
With its Pinocchio-like snout, scruffy white whiskers, and Arrest-Me Red lips, this rosy-lipped
batfish couldn't look more bizarre.
This morning we descend through a tightly packed shoal of sea bream, or perche d'or, who rest in the shade cast by our Zodiak, then down beyond them, through a phalanx of
batfish, steely and triangular as arrowheads.
An earlier version called the
Batfish was designed in Canada.
Snorkeling or diving, you'll see hundreds of species of fish, including manta rays,
batfish, moray eels, barracuda, whitetip shark--though you'll have a better chance of seeing larger fish if you dive.
