The other day, I went through the Deep Sea exhibit at the Natural History Museum. Deep Sea ecology is pretty interesting and especially great for the variety and oddness in creatures that dwell there. Case in point are Tripod Fish.
These deep sea beauties have long extensions coming out of their fins (two from their pelvic fins, and one at the back from the caudal fin), such that they are able to "stand still" on the ocean floor. Here they can wait very patiently for prey to come wandering into their vicinity.
Presumably a great way to conserve energy, although it would be interesting to examine whether there is a reason for the stilts being a certain height (i.e. do the crustaceans that the Tripod Fish feed on, prefer to hover at a certain depth, or do currents close to the ground uplift material in a certain way?)
