Just as humans use mirrors to see our bodies or the way we are dressed, scientists have deciphered the capabilities of a fish, ‘Lachnolaimus maximus’to visualize their own skin and be able to use that information as a self-defense mechanism.
It is a species known as dog fish due to its pointed snout, quite common in the American Atlantic, between the East coast of USA and the North of Brazil.
The ability of this fish to change color in a matter of milliseconds caught the attention of one of the study’s authors, biologist Lori Schweikertcurrently at the University of North Carolina, while fishing.
When the researcher prepared to store the fish in the ship’s refrigerator after having caught it, she realized that it had acquired the same color as the deck of the boat.
The fact that the fish was able to camouflage itself, even after death, caught Scheweikert’s attention, since it could indicate that the animal detects light only with its skin, apart from its eyes and brain.