Frogfish are odd creatures to begin with. They can be found gape-mouthed, ‘walking’ slowly along the ocean floor with their pectoral and pelvic fins or lying in wait for unsuspecting fish or crustaceans who might make a good meal. But you might find the hairy frogfish to be especially surprising… or disturbing. Its ‘bite’ is a ridiculously fast vacuum that’s created when its mouth quickly “balloons to 12 times its original size.”
Watch this Smithsonian Channel clip to see the hairy frogfish capture its prey in just 1/6000th of a second. The moment, one of the fastest-known bites in the animal kingdom, can’t even be filmed properly with a standard slow-motion video camera.
Next: The Sea’s Strangest Square Mile and more walking fish.
Plus: Why peregrine falcons are the fastest animals on earth and what is the fastest accelerator on the planet?
via Boing Boing.
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