'Strangest fish' walks along sea floor using its fins for legs

 

A diver encountered and filmed ‘the strangest fish in the Caribbean’ with a horn on its head which was using its fins for legs.

A shortnose batfish was filmed in a muddy channel called French Key Cut on the island of Roatán, Honduras after being spotted by Mickey Charteris, who has spent years chronicling marine life around the region.

The diver said the sea beast might just be the weirdest he’s seen. ‘It’s hands down the strangest fish in the Caribbean,’ he said.

‘It walks slowly searching for prey like crabs and small fishes, but can swim with its tail if it gets spooked. It resembles a lump of brown sponge that mated with a unicorn.’

The batfish can be seen with a horn on its head in the footage who was pushing itself along the seabed with its fins, Dailymail UK reported.

An expert on marine species and the author of Caribbean Reef Life, Mickey Charteris, , said it looked like a dark wedge from above but had red lips when seen from below. It’s a sight most divers will never get to see, he added.

‘It’s seen very seldom. You have to go out of your way to dive in silty channels and shallow sandy flats where there is usually less visibility.”

‘Normal divers would be very lucky to find one out on the reef – once every few years if you dive every day. We had heard of a few in that area and went specifically to try to record it. They are not common at all.’

The rare creature doesn’t have a swim bladder that allows many fish to maintain their buoyancy without swimming like most fish species.

‘So they must remain on the bottom with no buoyancy control,’ said Charteris, adding, ‘This keeps them low to the ground and close to prey that it sneaks up on.’

The shortnose batfish or Ogcocephalus nasutus is native to the Caribbean and is one of a handful of fish adapted to walking.