Red-Lipped BatfishPhotograph by David Doubilet, National Geographic This photogenic fish has red lips and fins made for walking the seafloor near the Galápagos Islands. The red-lipped batfish is one of some 60 species of batfishes, “flattened” from life on the seafloor and adapted to walk on modified pectoral and pelvic fins. Like other anglerfishes, batfishes also use a built-in fishing rod snout, equipped with a retractable appendage, to lure prey close to their lips—which, by the way, appear far less conspicuous without a photographer’s flash. |