![]() Each sarcomere (one highlighted) consists of two adjacent “tiles” of interlocking myosin filaments and actin filaments, threadlike protein structures responsible for muscle contraction. Banded structures called sarcomeres (seen in this electron microscope image) make up the threads bundled together in muscle fibers of a ghost catfish. When the fish contracts and relaxes its muscles to swim, the sarcomeres slightly change in length, causing a shifting rainbow effect. The collective diffraction of light produces an array of colors. The sarcomeres’ repeating bands, comprised of proteins that overlap by varying amounts, bend white light in a way that separates and enhances its different wavelengths. The team identified sarcomeres - regularly spaced, banded structures, each roughly 2 micrometers long, that run along the length of muscle fibers - as the source of the iridescence. The researchers then characterized the muscles’ properties by analyzing how X-rays scatter when traveling through the tissue and by looking at it with an electron microscope. These structures change in length as the fish swims, causing the rainbow colors to flicker. Microscopic striped structures in the fish’s muscles diffract the light, separating it into different wavelengths. When backlit with a white light, the mostly transparent ghost catfish becomes iridescent. By using a white light laser to illuminate the animal’s muscles and skin separately, the team found that the muscles generated the multicolored sheen. The researchers determined its iridescence arose from light passing through the fish rather than reflecting off it. To investigate the fish’s colorful properties, Zhao and colleagues first examined the fish under different lighting conditions. ![]() “I was standing in front of the tank and staring at the fish,” says Zhao, of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The roughly 5-centimeter-long freshwater fish is a popular ornamental species. The ghost catfish’s see-through body caught the eye of physicist Qibin Zhao when he was in an aquarium store. But the ghost catfish ( Kryptopterus vitreolus) and other transparent aquatic species, like eel larvae and icefishes, lack such structures to explain their luster. Many fishes with iridescent flair have tiny crystals in their skin or scales that reflect light ( SN: 4/6/21). The fish’s iridescence comes from light bending as it travels through microscopic striped structures in the animal’s muscles, researchers report March 13 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "The blue-green color to the eyes are pigments to help them find their bioluminescent prey.The ghost catfish transforms from glassy to glam when white light passes through its mostly transparent body. ![]() "Picture the blue-green body parts as upward facing eyes underneath a clear dome like an astronaut helmet," it said in a Facebook post. The glowing seen in the video is from the remote operated vehicle used in the dive shining on light colored tissue underneath a transparent dome, the Monterey Bay Aquarium said. The fish does not produce light like some other deep sea creatures. When it sees prey caught in the siphonophore tentacles, it rotates its eyes forward and swims up to get it. Siphonophores are unusual marine organisms that can grow up to 33 feet in length and drift around the ocean with thousands of stinging tentacles that are used to capture small animals.īarreleye fish are mostly motionless in the water, with its body horizontal and its eyes looking upwards. It is thought barreleye fish hover below siphonophores so they can steal their food. They are found in oceans across the world, from the waters of Japan to Baja California. The species grows up to around six inches in length. "But how does this fish eat when its eyes point upward and its mouth points forward? MBARI researchers learned the barreleye can rotate its eyes beneath that dome of transparent tissue."īarreleye fish were first described in 1939.
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