Tripod fish, Bathypterois grallator, are a deep-sea benthic fish found at lower latitudes. They are now relatively well known from photographs and submersible observations. They seem to prefer to perch on the ooze using much elongated fin rays in their tails and two pelvic fins in order to stand, facing upstream with the pectoral fins turned forward so that the outthrust projecting fin rays resemble multiple antennae, and are indeed used as tactile organs. Bathypterois grallator are hermaphroditic. There are at least eighteen species in the genus Bathypterois, several of which have similar appearance and behavior to Bathypterois grallator.
Read more about Tripod Fish: Characteristics, Habitat, Food, Reproduction, Related and Similar Species
Famous quotes containing the words tripod and/or fish:
“I imagine, on the benches of an assembly, the most intrepid of thinkers, a brilliant mind, one of those men who, when they ascend the tribune, feel it beneath them like the tripod of the oracle, suddenly grow in stature and become colossal, surpass by a head the massive appearances that mask reality, and see clearly the future over the high, frowning wall of the present.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“But when a man poured fish into a pile,
It seemed they raised their little silver heads,
And sang”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)