Field notes in the city

ichthyologist:

Flatfish found in aquarium after lying undiscovered for 15 years

The bottom-dwelling sand sole - dubbed Nemo - was only discovered when its 40,000-litre open native rockpool tank was routinely cleaned at the Blue Planet Aquarium in Cheshire.

But despite being quite a large fish, staff think the fish may have been a stowaway when the tank was delivered in 1996 as they had no records of the flatfish having arrived at the aquarium .

Acting curator Colin Grist said: ‘We’ve called him Nemo, because we’ve found him, just like in the film - except we didn’t know we were looking.

‘Although we haven’t been aware of its existence it seems to have been doing extremely well.

‘It’s in perfect condition and has obviously been feeding well and probably waiting until the lights go out to go hunting.

He added: ‘It’s extraordinary that it’s managed to have remained hidden for so long but it does go to show just how well evolved it is to its natural environment.’

metro
Picture: Caters

(via mothernaturenetwork)