This fish may play a hole in its head like a drum

What’s Happening

So get this: The rockhead poacher is a little fish with a big pit in its head.

The divot may be like a drum, making sound that rises above a chaotic, nearshore din. News Animals This fish may play a hole in its head like a drum The rockhead poacher’s mysterious head pit may be an instrument rising above a noisy habitat The rockhead poacher (one shown) has a big pit in the top of its head, seen here as a large, tan depression. (let that sink in)

The structure may act like a drum for communication with other poachers.

The Details

Mike Kelly By Jake Buehler 13 hours ago this: via email (Opens in new window) Email Click to on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Click to on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Click to on X (Opens in new window) X Click to print (Opens in new window) Print Listen to this article This is a human-written story voiced by AI. ) For the rockhead poacher, the noises are all in its head.

The fish is a pint-size, unassuming inhabitant of nearshore shallows, but it has a conspicuous divot in the top of its skull that appears to work like a drum. New research suggests that flattened, mobile ribs may rap against the pit’s underside like drumsticks, possibly so the fish can communicate with other members of its species.

Why This Matters

“No fish has anything like this,” says functional morphologist Daniel Geldof, who defended the work in December for his master’s thesis at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. For our We summarize the week’s scientific breakthroughs every Thursday. Rockhead poachers ( Bothragonus swanii ) are armored, teardrop-shaped fish found from Alaska to California, where they spend much of their time in shallow waters perched on sea bottoms and camouflaged to resemble rocks or sponges.

This could have implications for future research in this area.

Key Takeaways

• Scientists had long noted the deep pit — about as large as the fish’s brain — scooped out of the top of its head.
• But its function remained mysterious.
• Did it create sound or collect it like a satellite dish?
• Or was it used in other senses?

The Bottom Line

Or was it used in other senses? To find out, Geldof and colleagues scanned a preserved specimen with X-rays.

Thoughts? Drop them below.