Plastic Angler Fish...From Your Nightmares!

Plastic Angler Fish Toy from Tapir and Friends Animal Store

Straight from some crazy, Tim Burton-esque nightmare comes our plastic angler fish. These denizens of the deep are truly odd. They use bioluminescence or attractive lures on the tops of their heads to attract prey into their gaping maws of death, and their mating ritual involves the tiny male permanently attaching itself to the much larger female and allowing its body to atrophy. But their weirdness also makes them awesome...to us anyway. Anglers aren't the only strange creatures at the bottom of the sea; be sure to check out all our wild and wonderful deep sea dwellers today.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Plastic Barrel-eye Fish Miniature

You lookin' at ME??

Our Plastic Barrel-Eye Fish

Our unusual and colorful plastic barrel-eye fish is 5 1/2 inches long from its jaws to its tail. The body is constructed of dense, somewhat flexible plastic. The plastic glows in the dark, and the unpainted parts (the lower jaw and underbelly) will emit a pale green light in a dark room. The fish has a brown body, and an orange face, fins and tail. On the belly, in tiny letters, is written "lanternfish," but this fish lacks the shape or fin arrangement of any lanternfish I found in my research. Previously we had simply called our barrel-eye a "mystery fish" and asked for help in identifying it. A visitor to our website named William directed us to a barrel-eye and for this we a grateful to him. Please see all our other deepwater toys and gifts.

About Barrel-Eye Fish

The barrel-eye fish (Opisthoproctus soleatus) is an amazing deepwater fish which lives in the aphotic zone near the top where no light penetrates. It is equipped with large, highly developed, light-sensitive, barrel-shaped eyes which direct its vision upwards toward the faintest light in order to spot the shape of prey. It is about 10 inches long and has an elaborate fin structure, luminescent organs, and a transparent to translucent head. The light emanating from the barrel-eye tends to confuse predators, making it difficult for them to see it as a fish. Little is known about the number of barrel-eyes in existence and about its reproductive cycle.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Plastic deep-water fish replicas - strange and weird!

Plastic Viperfish

Plastic Anglerfish

Plastic Barrel-eye or Spookfish

Plastic Frogfish 3-D Puzzle

Customers had been asking us for deepwater fish, and for the longest time we couldn't find any. Finally we found some nice ones, and you've been discovering them! These are wonderful fun for kids, and have even been used in biology classes for props. Some have been discontinued by the manufacturer, but fortunately we have quite a number left in stock.

At the top is our viperfish, one of the most imposing, although one of the less true to life. He's creepy and looks like the monster from Alien, although he's actually perfectly safe. The greenish-white "thing" springing from his back actually glows in the dark. He is generally in keeping with a real fish from deep water, but is not perfectly accurate. You can read more about all of these fish by following the links in the deepwater fish section of our very popular fish page. Next comes the angler fish, another one popular with kids. After that, the barrel-eye fish or spookfish. At first we thought this fish was cartoonish-looking and not realistic, but in fact, it's the most true-to-life of the three top-pictured deepwater fish. Pictured lowest on the fish totem pole above is a 3-D puzzle of a frogfish. Frogfish don't live in deep water. They tend to be shallow-water fish (and I think I saw one under the mangroves while snorkeling in a scary spot in Panama) but they are related to the deep-water fish on this post, so we've included them together. As a puzzle, this fish is quite fun. You can take it apart and put it back together unlimited times. You can leave it out to look at when it's finished or pack it away in a plastic box that looks like a nautilus shell until you want to put it together again. These fish are all reasonably priced (quite inexpensive, check them out). The only one that has small pieces that could be a problem for very young children is the puzzle.