This fish might look made for science—or just plain made-up—but it's 100 percent real. First described in 1939, this "barreleye" has been somewhat of a mystery to science.
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
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This fish might look made for science—or just plain made-up—but it's 100 percent real. First described in 1939, this "barreleye" has been somewhat of a mystery to science. But researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute were recently able to catch one of the deep-sea creatures and study it in a shipboard aquarium. They've learned that the fish can actually rotate its eyes upward to peer through its transparent, liquid-filled head. It's believed that the green color of the eyes (seen here looking skyward) might help to filter out sunlight so the fish can better spot its prey—glowing jellyfish—from its stomping grounds 2,000 to 2,600 feet (600 to 800 meters) below the surface. --Katherine Harmon
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