Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 10
This spiny devilfi sh,
Inimicus didactylus
, grows protuberances on its back that
soon become covered with algae and other small creatures. It crawls along the bottom on
leg-like modifi ed fi ns.
vein-like patterns and irregular splotches that make them look even more
like a real leaf.
The real leaves that drift along the bottom have been part of the scenery
for millennia, and the scorpionfi sh have evolved not just to look like them
but even to mimic how they drift. Like their brightly colored frogfi sh rela-
tives, the scorpionfi sh wait until their incautious fi sh prey swim too close,
under the blithe misapprehension that there is surely nothing to fear from a
dead leaf.
More distant branches on the Lembeh family tree
We humans have a relatively close evolutionary kinship with all these fi sh,
even with the rather creepy spiny devilfi sh. Despite our decidedly dif erent
shapes and habits we all share a backbone, and this shared trait places us all
in the subphylum Vertebrata. But if we venture a little further among the
