This Cute Fish Can KILL YOU in 7 Milliseconds

Summary

Dans cette vidéo passionnante, l'Octopus Lady nous entraîne dans le monde incroyable des poissons-grenouille, des créatures comiques et terrifiantes à la fois. Elle nous explique qu'en dépit de leur apparence peu conventionnelle, ces poissons sont des prédateurs efficaces et subtils. Les poissons-grenouille utilisent des stratégies de camouflage et de ressemblance agressive pour attirer et capturer leur proie avec une précision et une rapidité impressionnantes. La vidéo détaille également les phases de capture de la proie et les particularités anatomiques des poissons-grenouille, qui leur permettent de s'adapter rapidement à leur environnement. L'Octopus Lady nous invite à apprécier la complexité et l'efficacité cachées de ces êtres qui, malgré leur aspect déjanté, sont parmi les plus redoutables des océans.

Takeaways

• 🎥 La plateforme de streaming Nebula a été récemment redessinée avec de nouvelles catégories pour faciliter la découverte de contenus.
• 🌟 Nebula investit dans des productions originales exclusives, divisées en deux catégories : Fact et Fiction, dont un documentaire sur le scandale de Baltimore.
• 💰 Les membres à vie de Nebula bénéficient d'un accès permanent pour un paiement unique de 300 dollars, sans astuce ou tour.
• 🐸 Les poissons-grenouille sont des prédateurs emblématiques pour leur apparence déjantée et leur efficacité à capturer des proies.
• 🧐 Les poissons-grenouille appartiennent à l'ordre des Lophiiformes et sont répartis dans des familles qui incluent des espèces comme le Histrio histrio.
• 🕵️‍♀️ Les poissons-grenouille sont maîtres de la camouflage et de l'aggressive resemblance pour attirer et capturer leurs proies.
• 🏊‍♂️ Contrairement à d'autres poissons, les poissons-grenouille ont un corps globuleux et se déplacent en 'jetting' ou en marchant plutôt qu'en nageant.
• 🔄 Ils peuvent changer de couleur pour s'adapter à leur environnement et sont dotés d'une prouesse pour attirer leur proie avec une lure biofluorescente.
• 🤤 Les poissons-grenouille ont des capacités extraordinaires pour avaler leurs proies, pouvant ouvrir leur bouche jusqu'à 12 fois sa taille et engloutir en seulement 7 millisecondes.
• 🦷 Ils utilisent des dents pharyngées pour manipuler la proie à l'intérieur de leur bouche si nécessaire, avant de la déglutir.
• 🌐 Le contenu du vidéo est sponsorisé par Nebula, une plateforme de streaming qui offre également une réduction de 40% sur les plans annuels pour les nouveaux membres.

Q & A

Quelle est la plateforme de streaming sponsorisée dans la vidéo ?

La plateforme de streaming sponsorisée est Nebula.

Quels sont les créateurs talentueux qui possèdent la plateforme Nebula ?

Les créateurs talentueux qui possèdent la plateforme Nebula incluent Chubby Emu, Tier Zoo et l'hôtesse de la vidéo.

Comment la plateforme Nebula a-t-elle été récemment réorganisée ?

La plateforme Nebula a été réorganisée en catégories telles que News, Culture, Science, History, Podcasts et Classes, offrant une expérience de mini-services facilitant la découverte de contenus.

Quels sont les deux types de contenus originaux que Nebula propose exclusivement sur sa plateforme ?

Nebula propose deux types de contenus originaux exclusifs : Fact et Fiction.

Comment Nebula finance-t-elle les grands projets de contenus originaux ?

Nebula finance ces projets à travers ses adhésions à vie, où l'utilisateur paie 300 dollars une fois et a accès à la plateforme pour toujours.

Quel est le nom du documentaire de Bobby Broccoli qui sera bientôt disponible sur Nebula ?

Le documentaire de Bobby Broccoli qui sera bientôt disponible sur Nebula s'appelle The Baltimore Scandal.

À quel ordre appartiennent les poissons-crapaud ?

Les poissons-crapaud appartiennent à l'ordre Lophiiformes.

Comment les poissons-crapaud se déplacent-ils habituellement ?

Les poissons-crapaud se déplacent généralement en marchant ou en jetant, en prenant des boucheées d'eau qu'ils projettent par leurs branchies pour se propulser.

Quels sont les deux types de nageoires que les poissons-crapaud ont qui sont très différents de ceux des autres poissons ?

Les poissons-crapaud ont des nageoires pectorales et des nageoires pelvicques qui ressemblent à des pattes ou des mains.

Comment les poissons-crapaud sont-ils habiles à se camoufler dans leur environnement ?

Les poissons-crapaud se camouflent en imitant des éléments non vivants de leur environnement, comme des rochers ou des éponges, et ils utilisent également leur ressemblement agressif pour attirer leur proie.

Quelle est la principale stratégie de prédation des poissons-crapaud ?

Les poissons-crapaud sont des prédateurs qui attendent et attendent (sit-and-wait predators), utilisant leur camouflage et leur ressemblement agressif pour attirer leur proie.

Quelle est la capacité unique des poissons-crapaud en termes de capture de proie ?

Les poissons-crapaud peuvent ouvrir leur cavité bucco-pharyngée jusqu'à 12 fois sa taille initiale et avaler leur proie en seulement 7 millisecondes, ce qui est très rapide même pour les standards des poissons.

Comment les poissons-crapaud utilisent-ils leur lure pour attirer leur proie ?

Les poissons-crapaud utilisent leur lure qui pend sur leur tête pour attirer leur proie. Cette lure se compose d'une partie dorsale et d'une partie appelee esca qui est unique à chaque espèce et peut ressembler à différents types de proies.

Comment les poissons-crapaud sont-ils capables de changer de couleur ?

Les poissons-crapaud peuvent changer de couleur pour s'adapter à de nouveaux environnements, ce qui aide à leur camouflage et à leur ressemblement agressif.

Outlines

00:00

🎥 Présentation de Nebula et des poissons-crapaud

Le script commence par une présentation du service de streaming sponsorisé, Nebula, qui a récemment été redesséiné avec de nouvelles catégories de contenu et des productions originales. L'animateur exprime son enthousiasme pour parler des poissons-crapaud, des créatures comiques et inhabituelles, faisant partie de l'ordre des Lophiiformes et de la famille des Antennariidae. Les poissons-crapaud sont répartis dans le monde entier, à l'exception du poisson-crapaud de Sargasse qui vit dans les algues de Sargasse. L'animateur mentionne également son affection pour les noms scientifiques répétitifs et le fait que les poissons-crapaud ont existé il y a environ 53 millions d'années.

05:01

🐡 Caractéristiques et mode de vie des poissons-crapaud

Les poissons-crapaud sont décrits comme ayant un corps globuleux et non fusiforme, ce qui leur donne une apparence peu ordinaire pour un poisson. Ils sont plutôt maladroits nageurs, utilisant une méthode de propulsion appelée 'jetting'. Leur morphologie est également inhabituelle avec des nageoires pectorales et pelvicaires qui ressemblent à des pattes, leur permettant de se déplacer en marchant. Les poissons-crapaud sont capables de se fondre dans leur environnement grâce à leur camouflage, ce qui est particulièrement efficace pour échapper aux prédateurs. Cependant, ils utilisent également une stratégie d'aggressive resemblance pour attirer leur proie en imitant des éléments de l'environnement qui attirent les animaux qu'ils chassent.

10:02

🎣 Leur technique de prédation et leur apparence variable

Les poissons-crapaud sont des prédateurs efficacés qui utilisent une combinaison de camouflage, d'aggressive resemblance et d'un leurre pour attirer leur proie. Leur leurre, qui se trouve en haut de leur tête, est unique pour chaque espèce et peut ressembler à divers types de petits animaux ou d'algues. Ils peuvent également changer de couleur pour s'adapter à leur environnement. Les poissons-crapaud sont des prédateurs qui attendent patiemment et utilisent leur leurre pour attirer la proie, qu'ils attrapent avec une rapidité remarquable grâce à leur grande bouche qui peut s'ouvrir très vite.

15:03

🤯 Comment les poissons-crapaud attrapent et digèrent leur proie

Le processus de capture de la proie par les poissons-crapaud est décrit en trois phases : la phase de pré-attaque, la phase d'attaque et la phase de manipulation de la proie. Durant la phase d'attaque, les poissons-crapaud peuvent ouvrir leur bouche jusqu'à 12 fois sa taille initiale et avaler leur proie en seulement 7 millisecondes, une capacité sans précédent chez les poissons. Après avoir attrapé leur proie, ils l'emmaillotent avec leurs dents pharyngées et la déglutissent. Cette méthode de prédation est à la fois impressionnante et terrifiante, mettant en évidence la nature redoute des poissons-crapaud malgré leur apparence comique.

20:04

🙏 Appel à l'aide et remerciements

L'animateur exprime sa gratitude envers les abonnés et les membres de Patreon pour leur soutien pendant une période difficile marquée par des problèmes de santé physique et mentale. Elle mentionne que la production de vidéos est actuellement affectée et incite les spectateurs à rejoindre son Patreon pour un soutien financier, offrant des récompenses comme l'accès anticipé aux vidéos ou la mention de leur nom dans les crédits. Elle invite également les spectateurs à liker, partager et s'abonner à sa chaîne, et à la suivre sur Twitter pour plus de contenu sur les océans et les créatures qui les peuplent.

Keywords

💡Nebula

Nebula est un service de streaming indépendant détenu par des créateurs talentueux. Dans la vidéo, il est présenté comme ayant subi une récente et importante révision avec un nouveau design. Cela illustre le thème de l'innovation et du développement continu pour répondre aux besoins des créateurs et des consommateurs de contenu.

💡Catégories de contenu

Les catégories de contenu sur Nebula, telles que les Actualités, la Culture, les Sciences, l'Histoire, les Podcasts et les Cours, sont mentionnées comme des mini-services distincts. Elles permettent aux utilisateurs de trouver plus facilement du contenu de créateurs nouveaux ou de leurs favoris, ce qui est essentiel pour la thématique de la découverte et de l'accessibilité du contenu.

💡Originals de Nebula

Les Originals de Nebula sont des productions exclusives, réparties en deux catégories : les Faits et la Fiction. Ces œuvres sont développées par des créateurs et ne sont pas disponibles ailleurs, ce qui renforce le concept de valeur unique et d'exclusivité offerte par le service de streaming.

💡Adhésion à vie

L'adhésion à vie est une option de financement pour les projets de Nebula, où les membres paient une somme unique et ont accès à tous les contenus en ligne pour toujours. Cela souligne le soutien des membres à la plateforme et à la création de contenu original.

💡Frogfish

Le frogfish, ou poisson-chouette, est l'animal central de la vidéo. Il est décrit comme étant d'une apparence très original et est étudié pour ses caractéristiques uniques et sa manière de chasser. Le frogfish est utilisé pour illustrer la diversité et la complexité de la vie marine.

💡Camouflage

Le camouflage est utilisé par les frogfish pour se fondre dans leur environnement, ce qui est essentiel pour éviter les prédateurs. Dans le script, il est expliqué que le camouflage implique de ressembler à un fond ou un substrat non intéressant pour passer inaperçu, ce qui est crucial pour la survie des frogfish.

💡Resemblance agressive

La resemblance agressive est une stratégie utilisée par les frogfish pour attirer leur proie en imitant des éléments de leur environnement qui sont attrayants pour celle-ci. C'est un aspect clé de la tactique de chasse des frogfish, qui les rend efficaces dans l'attraction et la capture de leur proie.

💡Lure

La leurre est une partie du corps du frogfish qui est utilisé pour attirer la proie. Il est décrit comme étant capable de biofluorescence et de relâcher des substances chimiques attractifs, ce qui est un élément clé de la stratégie de chasse du frogfish.

💡Capture de proie

La capture de proie est décrite en trois phases par le script : la phase pré-attaque, la phase d'attaque et la phase de manipulation de la proie. Cette séquence détaillée met en évidence la précision et l'efficacité des frogfish en tant que prédateurs.

💡Adaptabilité

L'adaptabilité est un trait clé des frogfish, qui peuvent changer de couleur pour s'adapter à leur nouvel environnement. Cela montre comment les frogfish peuvent survivre et prospérer dans diverses conditions, ce qui est un aspect important de leur succès en tant que espèce.

💡Patron de couleur

Le patron de couleur des frogfish est mentionné comme un moyen par lequel ils peuvent changer d'apparence pour s'adapter à leur environnement ou pour attirer leur proie. Cela contribue à la compréhension de la façon dont les frogfish utilisent la couleur pour leur avantage.

Highlights

Nebula, the streaming service, has undergone its biggest redesign ever, categorizing content for easier navigation.

Nebula Originals are exclusive videos divided into Fact and Fiction categories, with new content like 'The Baltimore Scandal' documentary.

A Lifetime membership to Nebula costs $300, offering permanent access without any tricks or gimmicks.

Using the provided link supports the content creator and offers a 40% discount on annual Nebula plans.

Frogfish are part of the order Lophiiformes and are known for their unique, globose body shape.

Frogfish are not adept swimmers, often jetting or walking with their fin-like legs.

Their pectoral and pelvic fins resemble limbs, allowing them to grasp and walk.

Frogfish are masters of camouflage, blending in with their surroundings to hide from predators and attract prey.

They employ aggressive resemblance to appear as unoccupied, enticing shelters for prey.

Frogfish use a lure on their head to attract prey, a feature they share with the anglerfish.

Each frogfish species has a unique lure, which helps in identification.

Frogfish can change their skin color to adapt to new environments.

Aggressive mimicry is used by frogfish, making their lures resemble prey-attracting animals or objects.

Frogfish lures can move, smell, and even glow like prey species to attract them.

Frogfish have an extraordinary ability to expand their mouths rapidly, engulfing prey in just 7 milliseconds.

Their prey capture process involves a pre-strike, strike, and prey handling phase.

Frogfish use pharyngeal teeth to manipulate and swallow prey whole.

Content creator discusses health issues affecting video production and asks for Patreon support.

The video concludes with a humorous message about the unexpected predatory prowess of the seemingly goofy frogfish.

Transcripts

This video is sponsored by my streaming service, Nebula.

I’m sure you’ve all heard the usual spiel about Nebula before, that we’re an

independent platform owned by talented creators like Chubby Emu, Tier Zoo, and...

me! But you might not have heard about how Nebula has gotten a whole

new redesign, our biggest update ever!

All of our content is now broken up into Categories: News, Culture, Science,

History, Podcasts, and Classes, and each category will be like its own

mini service, which will make it easier for you to find content from both

new creators and existing favorites.

We’re also investing in more big-concept, high-octane Nebula Originals, which are

videos found only on Nebula, divided into two categories: Fact and Fiction.

And we got some really great stuff coming up, like Bobby Broccoli’s new

documentary called The Baltimore Scandal.

We’re spending more on Original content than ever before, developing creator-built

projects you can’t see anywhere else.

And we are funding these endeavors through our Lifetime memberships!

You pay $300 once, and then, you get access to Nebula forever.

Period.

No tricks or gimmicks!

If somehow, both you and Nebula last until the heat death of the universe, you’d

still get access to all our great content.

Otherwise, if you sign up using my link at nebula.tv/theoctopuslady or use the

link below, you can support me directly and get Nebula for 40% off annual

plans, or as little as $2.50 a month.

So thanks again to Nebula for the sponsorship, and now onto the video…

Hi, I’m the Octopus Lady, you’re watching Alien Ocean, and let’s

talk about frogfish today, shall we?

So frogfish are, and this is the

scientifically accurate way to describe them,

EXTREMELY goofy looking.

And I’m so excited to talk about them today, because, as I’ve mentioned briefly

in a couple other videos, I am an absolute sucker for goofy looking fish, and oh man.

Oh man.

Oh man!

Do these fish get goofy lookin’!

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We gotta do the usual stuff first.

Frogfish are part of the order Lophiiformes, meaning they are related

to another very interesting group of fish, but I’ll talk about that later,

and more specifically, they make up the family

An…ten…aur..ree…uh…dye.

Nailed it?

They’re found all over the world, mostly along the coasts and in waters

around 20 degrees Celsius, with the exception of Histrio histrio, or the

Sargassum frogfish, which is found floating out in the middle of the ocean

on big ol’ mats of sargassum algae.

By the way, another thing I’m an absolute sucker for is when an

organism has the same name, like, twice, for its scientific name?

Like Histrio histrio, Mola mola, and…

this is apparently pronounced

Boh-ops boh-ops, but I’m never gonna pronounce it like that.

No one should EVER pronounce it like that.

The oldest fossil we’ve found of a frogfish dates back to about 53 million

years ago, which means they might’ve first showed up around the same time

as moray eels and sacoglossan slugs.

And I don’t really know where to put them on my fossil timeline thing,

so I guess I’ll just stick ‘em…

here.

Gah, this looks terrible.

Now with all that out of the way, let’s talk about how goofy-lookin’ frogfish are.

Cuz they’re goofy-lookin’-ness kinda makes it seem like they’re bad at being fish.

See, first off, most fish are sort of, y’know, sleek.

They’re not all built like swordfish, of course, but most fish basically

have a fusiform body plan, so tapered at the ends and wider in the middle.

This is a good body plan to have if you need to move through a relatively

dense medium like water, but frogfish do not subscribe to this body plan.

I have seen them be described repeatedly as “globose” which

basically just means spherical.

They’re a spherical fish!

They’re like Boggy the Froggy from Fantasy High, except they’re Boggy the Frog…

fish.

If you understand that reference, GET IN THE COMMENTS.

As a result of this body plan, frogfish aren’t very good at swimming.

I mean, they can do it, but it looks awkward.

And sometimes they don’t even swim, really?

They jet, which is when they take in mouthfuls of water and eject it out their

gills, and that propels them forward.

Which is not – that’s not how swimming works!

Although, I gotta admit, I’m kinda genuinely impressed with how well this

mode of transport seems to work for them, but, still, you’re not supposed

to use your mouth to swim, my guy.

You’re supposed to use your fins!

But speaking of.

Their fins are weird!

So here’s a typical fish, which has all different kinds of fins,

but the ones we’re gonna focus on are the pectoral and pelvic fins.

As you can see, the pectoral fins are on the sides of the fish and can stick

out from them at a 90 degree angle, and the pelvic fins are basically

directly underneath the pectoral ones.

And they’re both, kinda, y’know, fin-shaped.

Meanwhile, you see this leg-looking thing sticking out the side of this frogfish?

Yeah, that’s their pectoral fin.

Which, by the way, ends in, like, a hand?

Like it kinda looks like they have a hand at the end of their pectoral fins.

And I realize that most people will probably think that’s kind of unsettling,

but I think it’s kind of cute!

They can even grasp things in their…fins, I guess!

I dunno, that makes me just want to hold hands with a frogfish.

Like I just think that would be really cute!

And as for their pelvic fins, hold on, I got the perfect photo for this --

BAM! Look at her!

Look at that pose!

It’s fresh, it’s fabulous, it’s fierce!

It’s saying, “I’m here, I’m weird, and I’m a sphere!” [giggles]

So DUMB.

But yeah, these things?

That are not directly underneath their pectoral fins?

And kinda look like…

feet, I guess?

Those are their pelvic fins.

Frogfish just unsubscribed HARD from the typical fish body plan, didn’t they?

And the reason why frogfish have fins like this is because they walk everywhere.

That’s the primary way that they move around.

Although, they’re not the greatest at that either.

Like, look at this guy, he looks like he’s stumbling out of a

frat house on a Sunday morning.

He can barely keep himself upright.

Ugh, he’s perfect, you’re perfect, my darling.

Never change!

You hear me, Evolution?

You do not let frogfish get better at walking, you understand?

You leave them alone!

You can often find frogfish walking around on rocks, coral reefs,

and sandy bottomed substrates.

Or at least, in theory, you can see them walking around, except they’re,

like, REALLY good at blending in with their surrounding environment.

And they’re capable of doing this in multiple different ways.

“Multiple different ways?” some of you might be saying right now.

“Isn’t there only one way you can blend in with your surrounding environment,

and that’s through camouflage?”

Which, yes, but also, no.

OK, so we’re gonna get a little pedantic with the definition

of that word in this video.

So camouflaging is not just when an animal imitates their background

or the substrate they’re on.

They are specifically imitating background or substrate that is uninteresting.

They’re trying to look uninteresting to their predators or their prey or both.

Camouflaging can also be called passive resemblance or passive mimicry.

I think.

I think you can use those terms interchangeably.

And frogfish do camouflage, they often look like rocks covered in algae or

like, some sort of sponge and predators typically are not interested in rocks

or sponges, so this is an effective way for frogfish to hide from them.

However, it’s a different story when it comes to their prey.

See, lots of animals on coral reefs, including animals that frogfish like

to eat, are constantly looking for shelter, either as a place to rest, or

hide from a predator, or lay their eggs.

But there is a housing crisis on coral reefs.

Some studies suggest that at any given moment, 100% of the

space on a reef is occupied.

Even the smallest patches of substrate got someone chilling there.

Many of these animals like to take shelter up against things like, idk,

sponges, or rocks covered in algae.

So if you live on a coral reef, and you find an unoccupied bit

of space, you jump on that.

And frogfish are pros at not just looking like a good place to take shelter, but

also appearing completely unoccupied.

How?

We’ll get to that in a second.

But this is an example of what’s called aggressive resemblance.

It’s when you are hiding from others, but in a way that makes you look

interesting, as opposed to camouflage or passive resemblance, which is when

you’re hiding from others, in a way that makes you look uninteresting.

And to certain kinds of prey, some of the hirsutier-looking

frogfish can appear extra enticing.

Is that even a word?

I don’t care.

It’s believed that these hairy boys are trying to look like they’re

covered in a specific kind of algae, filamentous algae, which is an algae

that is very hard to come by on healthy coral reefs, in part because it’s the

favorite food of many herbivorous fish.

So how can frogfish, who live in an environment where potentially

100% of all available space has got something living there,

make themselves look forever unoccupied?

Well, it’s really simple, they eat everything.

EVERYTHING.

Anything that gets close enough to them, they’ll eat it.

They sometimes even eat things that are bigger than they are.

Or try to, anyway.

Dude.

Give it up.

It’s not gonna happen.

Here’s a better example.

You see this?

This is an x-ray of a frogfish, and you see that?

That’s a whole ‘nother fish inside its stomach, which, according to the caption

of this image, had a body length that was greater than that of the frogfish.

They’re top-tier predators, is what I’m sayin’.

They successfully capture prey about 91% of the time.

And they don’t do it like many other predators.

Because in case you didn’t know, many other predators are…

chumps! They have to expend

so much energy every time they want to eat something, because

THEY have to chase after their prey.

And all that effort might be for nothing, if their prey manages to escape.

But frogfish are, like, the textbook definition of “work smarter, not harder,”

because they do the exact opposite.

They’re what’s called a sit-and-wait predator, because with their camouflage

and aggressive resemblance, they can just sit and wait for their food to show up.

And they don’t even always have to wait, really, because they have

a third weapon in their arsenal.

Their lure.

Frogfish have a lure that comes out of the top of their head and dangles in front

of their face, like, y’know, a fishing lure, which they use to attract prey.

And this might sound familiar, because yes, frogfish are, in fact, related to

the more famous, or perhaps infamous, deep sea anglerfish, who also have a lure.

But I’m not gonna talk about them here, cuz they’re gonna get their own

video at some point in the future.

The frogfish’s lure is made up of two parts, the spine, and the bait, or esca.

And each species of frogfish has it’s own unique esca, which is basically the only

way we can tell different species apart.

For a long time, we didn’t actually know exactly how many species of

frogfish there were, cuz they can change the color of their skin.

Did I mention that yet?

Yeah, that’s another thing that they can do, is change the color of their skin,

into all different kinds of colors.

Yellow and black and white and orange and...

whatever is going on here.

Like, these are all the same species of frogfish, which is wild and explains

why we didn’t know for a long time exactly how many there actually were.

Cuz, tbh, I wouldn’t have thought these were all the same species.

And presumably, the reason frogfish change the color of their skin is so they can

adapt to new areas they wander into.

If a frogfish is in an area with a lot of yellow sponges, and then

stumbles drunkenly into an area with a lot of pink rocks, they’ll change

the color of their skin accordingly.

Anyway!

Lures.

Spines.

Escae.

Escae is the plural form of esca.

They’re unique to each species of frogfish.

Some just look like…fleshy balls? And some look much, much, much more elaborate.

Which brings us to the topic of aggressive mimicry.

Aggressive mimicry is when a predator mimics another animal in a way that

is appealing to that predator’s prey.

This is different from aggressive *resemblance,* because aggressive

*mimicry* requires that the predator mimic a specific animal in some way.

So not just look like it, but behave like it or move like it

or something along those lines.

Aggressive *resemblance* is more like when an animal imitates usually

non-living things in their environment.

I think.

It was really confusing to try to figure out the differences between aggressive

mimicry and aggressive resemblance and passive resemblance and passive mimicry

and protective mimicry and camouflage.

[deep breath]

But that’s what makes the most sense to me,

hopefully I got that right.

So there are frogfish that have lures that look like typical worms,

lures that look like feather worms.

Sorta.

Lures that look like small fish.

I guess.

Lures that look like tiny shrimp.

Supposedly?

And lures that look like amphipods.

OK, this one I can kinda see, but the others?

[noise of uncertainty] Maybe if we see them move, it makes more sense, like…

OK, this definitely looks like a fish to me. This one’s definitely supposed

to look like a worm. And I think this one is supposed to look like a shrimp?

I think?

It looks like somethin’!

And.

And!

Apparently, frogfish also release chemicals into the water that makes

their lure smell good to prey, and the lure of at least one frogfish

is capable of biofluorescence.

Which is not the same thing as bioluminescence, which their deep-sea

anglerfish cousins do, but I don’t got the time to explain the differences

here, so if you want to learn about bioluminescence in specific,

go check out my videos about dinoflagellates.

Otherwise, pause and read this.

Anyway!

Some researchers found that the worm-like esca of the Hairy Frogfish glowed bright

orange under certain lighting conditions, and as you can see in this video, there

are worms swimming around that are nearly the same size as the frogfish’s

esca, and they glow bright orange, too.

And all of this is aggressive mimicry.

Like, AGGRESSIVE mimicry, right?

Frogfish are pulling out all the stops.

They’re not just making their lures look like other animals, but also

move like other animals, smell like other animals, and sometimes

even glow like other animals.

Combine that with their aggressive resemblance, so looking like a

nice, cozy, unoccupied bit of rock that also might be covered in

really tasty algae, and frogfish are just…

prey attractin' MACHINES.

They’re like the perfect vacation home with all the amenities.

Step aside, AirBnB, we got…

Water F…n…F now.

That was a really bad joke.

Of course, attracting prey isn’t enough to make you a good predator.

You gotta be able to catch it, too.

And frogfish have got catching their prey on lock.

So there’s three recognized phases to frogfrish kay pratcher.

What?!

So there’s three recognized phases to frogfish prey capture.

Phase 1 is the pre-strike phase.

This is when the frogfish spots something it wants to eat, and

when they might bring out their lure, cuz they don’t always use it.

If their prey is already nice and cozied up to them, then the

frogfish will just go for it.

Aggressive resemblance in action.

Sometimes, frogfish will just move very slowly towards their prey, going

completely unnoticed, then hork them down.

Camouflage in action.

But about 80% of the time, they’ll bring out their lure.

Aggressive mimicry in action.

They’ll often dangle their lure directly in front of their mouth, but

sometimes, if their victim is kinda off to the side, they’ll dangle their

lure on that side of their body, and then flick it over to the other.

Basically making their prey move directly into their strike

zone to go after the lure.

Very clever, little frogfish.

Phase 2 is the strike phase.

It’s how they get their prey inside their mouths.

Which doesn’t sound very interesting, right?

Cuz like, whatever, they open their jaws and eat it, just like everything else on

this planet that has a mouth, but oh man.

Let’s talk about frogfish mouths.

Cuz there’s a lot going on with their oral cavities.

So first off, many fish have to expand their mouths by several

sizes in order to catch their prey.

I’ve already talked about this in my moray eel video, but basically, when a fish

rapidly expands its mouth, it creates negative pressure, aka suction, that

pulls in prey and whatever else is nearby.

This is called, and I’m not kidding,

gape and suck feeding.

Gape and suck.

Is this also the name of some Midwestern gas station or a fast food joint

out of the Simpsons, or the title of something that only grown ups should

be exposed to and I’m not gonna elaborate further

because I don’t want to get demonitized --

gape and suck?!

Gross!

Whoever came up with that term is fired.

From everything.

From existence.

Anyway, when it comes to…

this way of eating, the bigger your mouth is and

the faster you can expand it, the more successful you are in capturing prey.

And frogfish have big mouths, and they open them fast.

They can expand their oral cavities to be 12 times larger, compared to

when they’re closed, and they can engulf their prey in 7 milliseconds.

Which, I know without context just sounds like random numbers,

but this is literally unheard of.

Out of all the fish mouths that have been examined, frogfish can

expand theirs the most, by far.

Other fish have been reported at only being able to expand their

mouth to be six times larger.

And engulfing prey in 7 milliseconds is wild.

There’s only a handful of other fish that can eat that fast, the Lined

Seahorse and the Dusky Pipefish.

And for even more context, do you know how long it takes for a human to blink?

100 to 400 milliseconds.

In the literal blink of an eye, a frogfish can, theoretically, get

60 different things into its mouth.

And I could say a very dirty joke right now.

And we have no idea how they can move so fast.

Scientists have dissected frogfish heads and jaws and as near they

can tell, their mouths aren’t built any different from most other fish.

Some researchers hypothesize that there might be a sort of catapult mechanism

in their jaw somewhere, similar to the mechanism fleas have in their legs to

jump, but no one’s found anything yet.

Once the prey is in the mouth, we move onto Phase 3, Prey Handling, or the

manipulation and…deglutition of prey.

Well, that’s a word!

Deglutition.

DEGlutition.

DeGLOOOOOOOtition [giggles]

Since frogfish eat things whole, sometimes they gotta rearrange the food in their

mouth before they actually swallow it.

And they use their pharyngeal teeth to do that, or teeth that line their throat.

If you’ve seen my moray eel video, you’re kinda familiar with pharyngeal

teeth, because moray eels have pharyngeal *jaws* that lunge out of

their throat and into their mouths when they’re eating something, and

if you’re watching this right now being like, “Moray eels have WHAT?

That do WHAT?”

Go watch my moray eel video.

And while pharyngeal jaws are unique to moray eels, pharyngeal teeth are not.

Most fish have teeth that line their throats, and frogfish are no different.

If they need to manipulate their prey, they’ll hold it with their main teeth,

the ones in their mouth, and then, through a racking motion, pull their

prey, either head or tail first, down their throat using their pharyngeal teeth.

Also, I have no idea what the heck a racking motion is.

And I didn’t misread it, it’s not a rocking motion, it’s a racking motion.

So if anyone knows what that looks like, please let me know in the comments.

However, if the frogfish manages to inhale their prey when it’s facing them

head on, or it’s small enough, it will be immediately sucked into the frogfish’s

stomach, no pharyngeal teeth needed.

Then, a sphincter in the frogfish’s esophagus quickly closes,

preventing the prey from escaping.

So, like, think about that.

How terrifying it must be to be eaten by a frogfish!

You’re just chilling next to a rock, minding your own business,

when you spot this tasty looking worm out of the corner of your eye.

You move in for a closer look but suddenly, you’re thrust into perpetual

darkness, and the only source of light is rapidly closing behind you.

And you have no idea what just transpired because it all happened in 7 milliseconds.

And in that darkness is where you will die, slowly and painfully, as the frogfish

who doomed you to this fate goes about its life, oblivious to your suffering.

[deep breath]

Aaaaah, nightmare!

That’s like something out of a nightmare!

Frogfish are the darkest of dark horses.

They’re so goofy and they’re so awkward and they’re so terrifying.

And I love that, I love when some derpy looking animal is actually

way more impressive or formidable in a way that no one expects.

I mean, seriously, if I showed you these three predators and asked, “Which one

do you think catches its prey 91% of the time?” would you guess this one?

Well, you probably would…now, cuz you’ve watched this video, but like, before!

Like if I asked you that question before you saw this video,

would you still say the frogfish?

Cuz I wouldn’t have!

I had no idea they were so good at eating other creatures until I

did the research for this video.

On the surface, they might seem like they’re terrible at being

fish, but in my opinion, they’re one of the greatest in the ocean.

[Music]

Thanks for watching another episode of Alien Ocean!

I know it’s been a while since I made a video, so thank you, everyone, for your

patience, and to my Patrons in particular, some of whom are scrolling by right now.

I have been dealing with some pretty debilitating health issues the last

few months, both physical and mental, which I’m not gonna get into here, and

I wish right now I could say something like, “Fortunately, these issues have

been resolved and I’m gonna be releasing videos on a regular schedule again!” But

they haven’t really been resolved, and I don't know when I’m gonna be able to

release my next video which…sucks, y’all!

I really like making videos and it really sucks when I’m

not healthy enough to do that.

And, on top of that, if I’m not releasing videos, I’m not making a lot of money,

which is also, y’know, it’s own problem.

Soooooooooooo if you have the resources, please consider joining

my Patreon, which is definitely the best way to support me directly.

Depending on which tier you sign up for, you can get early access to my videos,

or your name in the beautiful credits.

But any contributions will be deeply appreciated because you'll be

supporting me through a time where it’s really difficult for me to work

because my body is being…stupid!

Having a corporeal form is so overrated, y’all.

If you currently are some sort of disembodied sentient being

and you’re thinking about maybe getting a corporeal form, don’t!

It’s not worth it.

Anyway, be sure to like, share and subscribe and all that, follow me over

on Twitter, and until next time, this is your friendly neighborhood Octopus

Lady reminding you that you don’t have to go into space to find aliens.

Hey, so, I found some photos I wanted to use in my video but couldn’t find a good

place for them so I’m putting them here.

Like this one!

Someone needs to caption this.

Like, “Me.

My super cool and extroverted friend who adopted me for some reason."

Or, "Me!

The baddie I pulled by telling them weird marine biology facts."

I dunno, come up with your own!

Down in the comments.

Frogfish either look like they’re the perfect example of “Not a single

thought behind those eyes” or they’re having THE most existential crisis

to ever existentially crisis about.

This is a baby warty frogfish and look at her!

She’s tiny!

She’s smol!

She’s WEEEE–!

[Music]