I hope you are all enjoying the start of your week. Yesterday, I went a little more domestic with Wild Facts by talking about dogs. I had a lot of fun with that post and had a lot of interesting questions. As much fun as it was, I have decided to make today’s post about an animal that is a little more wild. Today we are going to talk about a deep sea creature so you know it will be interesting.
The coffinfish is in the same family as the Anglerfish. Remember this is the fish that uses a glowing lure to attract its prey. You don’t remember? Really because we talked about it. Okay, I will post the link to that Wild Fact here. You can go and refresh your memory but you have to promise to come back to today’s Fact.
Welcome back! There is not a lot of information out on the coffinfish since it spends the majority of its time sitting on the ocean floor. Although, they are common, we don’t spend much time on the ocean floor. Occasionally they will get caught in nets and brought to the surface. When this happens the coffinfish will be a big round ball. Why you ask? The coffinfish shares a trait similar to the pufferfish. They are able to take in water and blow up their body as a self-defense mechanism. This method protects them as it is more difficult for other predators to eat a swollen fish. Heck, I have a hard time eating sushi if the piece is too big. Although, I blame the chopsticks for that!
Although their defense mechanism is awesome, the coolest thing about the coffinfish is the fact that they can walk along the ocean floor. You read that right! This is a fish that is able to walk. For some reason, I keep picturing that old evolution cartoon with the fish walking out of the water and eventually turning into a man. Obviously the coffinfish doesn’t have legs like we do but they do have tiny leg-like fins that are capable of walking. How weird would it be if you caught a coffinfish and it managed to walk off the boat. I know that would surprise the heck out of me!
Well, that is all for today’s fact! I hope you enjoyed learning about another unique deep sea creature. Enjoy the rest of your day!
Poor Coffinfish is not too cute, and he has a scairty name! But I would like to see him walking all around.
I definitely think it would be cool to see a walking fish!
You are absolutely right about the name. Poor guy is stuck with a terrible name!
Wow! An actual coffin fish. I had an encyclopedia about marine life when I was 5 years of age and remember being so intrigues and amused by the coffin fish. That was about the same time I began to learn about death and actual coffins as a relative had just died. Brings back interesting memories seeing it here!
Thanks for sharing your story, Gerry. I always find it funny how most people learn to appreciate wildlife from a book that they read when they were young.
The coffinfish is definitely an intriguing animal so I can understand why you were amused by it at such a young age.
Thanks for stopping by Wild Facts.