It's definitely taking me some time to get used to the new interior of the Giant Ocean Tank.  A new coral head here, some new lettuce corals there, oops I just swam into some tube sponges, you get the picture.  I was wondering how the fish were navigating their new digs.  So I followed some fish around with my camera, including this really cool peacock flounder.



Peacock flounders (Bothus lunatus) are bottom dwellers and are masters of camouflage, having the ability to rapidly lighten or darken their colors to blend with the bottom. They, like all lefteye flounders in the Bothidae family, have both of their eyes on top of their head, which is actually their left side because they lie on their sides, not their stomachs, making their pectoral fin look like a dorsal fin.

Peacock flounder | Photo: Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble via Wikimedia Commons

What's really cool is that they have typical bilateral fish-shaped bodies with an eye on each side of their heads when in their pelagic (or open water) larval stage, and when growing into a benthic (or bottom dwelling) juvenile one eye migrates to the other side! That amazes me.

Hope you enjoyed today's tour.

Chris

Check out more underwater videos of the big tank!
• Turtles, eels and fish tour their new home
• Myrtle's triumphant return to the Giant Ocean Tank
• Check out some of the cool new features at the top of the tank

Come look for the peacock flounder inside the Giant Ocean Tank! Visiting has never been easier. Choose the day and time you wish to visit with timed ticketing.