Do All Fish Swim?

                                                     Red lip Batfish - may bigoti na ... nakalip-stick pa

Question: Lahat ba ng isda lumalangoy?

Answer: Lahat naman di ba? But planet Earth makes it a point that there is always an exemption to the rule. For instance, a carabao usually has four legs, and it blows us away and it becomes an anomaly when a baby carabao comes out with three legs. 

In the same vein ... all carabaos are colored black. It is a freak of nature and is considered abnormal to see a white carabao. But when an "albino" carabao is born ... it breaks the standard and goes against the rules of nature. This world is a freak show ... and no matter how abnormal it looks... all you can do is sit back and accept things as they are.

The red-lipped batfish is a case in point. Just because this creature is a fish ... we can't always assume that it can swim. These guys would rather “walk” instead of swim with their pectoral fins across the ocean floor. 

If this fish does not swim (or they lack swimming skills) ... if that is not weird enough ... tell! 

Another weird thing is ... when the batfish matures ... its dorsal fin grows into a horn on its head  ... making it look like a unicorn.

And there are more oddities. Although the fish is capable of swimming ... the batfish fins can double like pseudo-legs so it can walk unsteadily on the ocean seabeds when they are hunting for food. The batfish walk on these fins ... and like a bird, they use them to perch on while they inspect and size up the environment. 

Other people observed ... their fins spread outward like batwings. That is why they are called batfish.

And the most outrageous of all is their red lips. Where can you find a fish fully made up and had Revlon or Maybelline lipstick on? The red-lipped batfish flaunts its outrageous scarlet pout with all the charisma of Ivana Alawi. No one knows exactly why the batfish sports its signature look, but it may help them to attract possible dashing batfish Romeo's at spawning sites.

They are friendly and curious too ... divers can attest that juvenile batfish tend to lead solitary lives ... but adult batfish are sociable ... they can form a school of batfish and they can even live side by side with other fish  ... they follow and play with divers as they survey the bottom of the sea.