Scientists are preparing to take a closer look at a new species of fish, dubbed "Psychedilica" as they don't so much swim as hop with so little control that they look intoxicated.
Professor Ted Pietsch of the University of Washington, who is the first to describe the new species in the scientific literature, said "Psychedelica" seems the perfect name for the species that is a wild swirl of tan and peach zebra stripes.
While other frogfish and similar species are known to jettison themselves up off the bottom before they begin swimming, none have been observed hopping. It's just one of the behaviors of H psychedelica never observed in any other fish, said Pietsch, University of Washington professor of aquatic and fishery sciences and curator of fishes at the UW Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.
It was little more than a year ago that the fish with rare, forward-facing eyes like humans and a secretive nature was the subject of worldwide news coverage after having been observed in the busy harbor of Ambon Island, Indonesia, the Science Daily reported.
Pietsch speculates that the species may have binocular vision, that is, vision that overlaps in front, like it does in humans. Most fish, with eyes on either side of their head, don't have vision that overlaps; instead they see different things with each eye, the report said.
