pan 90 °
USELESS
Submitted 1 week ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/4deab35d-c92f-4980-ba4a-b3b37d994ba7.jpeg
Comments
lnxtx@feddit.nl 1 week ago
verdare@beehaw.org 1 week ago
R``Z``9``0``↵
gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Hahaha the mattressfish
southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Copy pasta incoming!
Sunfish
From u/tea_and_biology
Zoologist here; the majority of this is so inaccurate the guy is basically angry at a figment of his own imagination, paha. I mean there’s hyperbole, and then there’s hyperbole. Yikes!
Sunfish are, in fact, well understood and, though clumsy when idly basking, are reasonably accomplished swimmers when diving. They stroke their dorsal and anal fins laterally and in a synchronous manner to generate a lift-based thrust that enables 'em to cruise at speeds of 2-3mph (source), comparable to a whale shark and the perfect speed for suction feeding; ploughing straight into smacks of jellyfish and gobbling 'em all up.
Where they excel amongst fish is their ability to undergo substantial vertical movement in the water column. They possess large deposits of low-density, subcutaneous, gelatinous tissue which, unlike a swim bladder (which would otherwise change volume with hydrostatic pressure), is incompressible, enabling rapid depth changes and keeping them neutrally and stably buoyant independent of surrounding water pressure.
So, yeah, their unusual bodies are basically one big paddle, capable of putting some force behind their swimming to move over considerable distances, descending very deep, very fast.
Dumb. Also incorrect. Jellyfish and other Cnidarians comprise only around 15% of their diet; they mostly eat young fish (including conger eelets) and crustaceans (pelagic crab, krill, copepods etc.), alongside squid, bivalves and other assorted zooplankton. They’re generalist predators, not jellyfish specialists like sea turtles (source).
They have a particularly rapid growth rate amongst bony fish, owing much to their unique genetics (source).
They spend the majority of their time actively hunting in the very cold deep (usually at ~200m, but up to 600m) and, being ectotherms, therefore regulate their temperature by basking in the sun, before pursuing another dive. Think of marine iguanas basking on hot rocks between nibble trips.
Sunfish have been kicking about in temperate and tropical waters worldwide for around 50 million years and, until humans arrived on the scene, were overwhelmingly successful in their ecological niche. Sadly they’re under threat by human activity and human activity alone - frequently caught as by-catch; having little commercial value, like sharks, their fins are cut off before they’re dumped, often still alive, back into the sea to die. If one is to start throwing rocks at terrible creatures, perhaps one should look at us humans first.
Or, there’s The visual rebuttal, credit to u/iamnotburgerking
JayDee@lemmy.sdf.org 1 week ago
Goddamn. Dropping a massive biodump.
If you put it in a spoiler you can make it so other comments can be seen easier in the post BTW.