A recently translated 13th-century bestiary says: “As men learnt little by little about the kinds of fishes they were given names often from their similarity to creatures on land such as frogs, calves, lions, blackbirds, and peacocks.” Indeed, if you scroll through the common names of the known fish of the world, references to terrestrial creatures abound. Here are some fantastical fish that take their names from organisms that prefer terra firma.
1. Batfish
In the same order (Lophiiformes) as frogfish and other anglers, these squashed-looking critters use their modified pelvic fins to amble along the seafloor like awkward toads in search of worms and other small animals. Unlike its relatives, the batfish is thought to secrete an odor to lure its prey to within striking range. Two new species discovered in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill provide valuable insights into the effects of that disaster, as they are native only to areas oiled by the leak.2.Lionfish
Adorned with delicate plumes and banded in dark red and cream, the red lionfish (Pterois volitans) is almost absurdly ornamental. It could be an aigrette from a never-made McQueen collection or the head of a dragon kite, detached from its body. Ecologists were, however, horrified when in 1985 lionfish were first reported off the coast of Florida. Native to the Indo-Pacific, the species is known for its gluttonous habits; lionfish have been known to pick reefs clean of fish, especially in areas where they are not native and thus not recognizable as a predator species to unsuspecting reef denizens. The species has since been found as far north as Rhode Island. Campaigns have now been instituted to hunt the invasive fish to extinction outside of its native range and encourage its consumption by sustainability-minded gourmands.
3.Seahorse
Bizarre and almost universally adorable, the 30–50 species of seahorse have fascinated people for millennia. Their genus name, Hippocampus, comes from the Greek for “horse” and “sea monster.” The Hippocampi were figures in Greek mythology, half horse and half fish. These animal mashups were popular motifs in Greek and Roman art. They were often depicted drawing the chariot of Poseidon and serving as mounts for sea nymphs. Species identification is difficult in some cases because their coloration can vary significantly, with a single species containing members of multiple colors. Seahorses belong to the larger pipefish family; pipefish look much like seahorses that have been ironed out.
4.Snakehead
Snakeheads, native to east Asia, have traveled around the world because of their (supposedly) tasty meat. Not all of them have ended up on a plate, though. The prehistoric-looking creature has escaped captivity (or been dumped) and colonized foreign waters, leaving ecological havoc in its wake. In addition to being a savage apex predator in most freshwater aquatic ecosystems, it has the ability to walk on land over surprisingly long distances. This makes containment of invasive populations difficult. The northern snakehead was first recorded in the U.S. in 1997 and has since been found as far north as Maryland. A single specimen was pulled out of Burnham Harbor in Chicago in 2004, but it is thought to have been released by its owner. No further specimens have been documented in Lake Michigan.
5.Butterflyfish
Watching these creatures flit about among the corals and anemones of reefs they call home, it’s not hard to see how they got their name. Shimmering disks of color, they alight to delicately sip at the blossomlike polyps of coral with their prim tiny mouths. Some species politely sip bits of mucous (nectar of a sort) from the coral while others, a little less butterfly-ish, prefer to wrench the polyps out of their calciferous homes and gobble them up. This makes most species somewhat difficult to keep in captivity. Along with their relatives the angelfish, they are among the few known saltwater fish to regularly hybridize in the wild. This tendency toward interspecies romance may be due to their pair bonding habits; in the absence of a partner of the same species, a similar-looking fish will have to do.6.Frogfish
Greek poet Oppian of Anazarbus body shamed the frogfishes, describing them as “Hid in the slime the toad of form uncouth.” While I wouldn’t go so far as to call their forms uncouth, some of them do kind of look like they’re made of Play-Doh. Related to the anglerfishes, they practice aggressive mimicry. That is, they sport appendages and coloration that make them look like a harmless rock or blob of seaweed. This allows them to blend in with their surroundings and simply wait for unsuspecting sea creatures to drift by. Many have lures like their anglerfish cousins.
7.Wolffish
Monstrous cousins to the adorable blennies, wolffish are so known because of their ferocity upon being landed by fishermen. Unlike their sociable mammalian counterparts, wolffish prefer solitude. And can you blame them? If everyone you knew looked like that, you’d become a hermit too. Wolffish are important predators of sea urchins, which can overpopulate and decimate ecosystems if not kept in check. Unfortunately, they are often caught as bycatch, and populations have declined as a result.
8.Dogfish
I used to think that dogfish—canes in mari per the medieval chroniclers of the natural world—were, well, the lapdogs of the shark world. Not too huge, not aggressive toward humans (unless they’re netted), sort of myopic and derpy looking. Well, turns out I was wrong. Some species seem relatively chill. But the spiny dogfish schools. By the thousands. And when one of those schools passes through an area, anything living had better swim away, hide, or grow wings. These suckers will inhale anything they can swallow. Their ubiquity—they’re often the “fish” in fish-and-chips—has important implications: they’re a model organism, meaning that they’re a species that has been studied intensively and has thus provided data from which conclusions about other, similar species can be extrapolated.
9.Catfish
The 2010 film Catfish derives its title from an anecdote claiming that fishermen shipping live cod would put a catfish in the tank with them in order to keep them moving and thus prevent the quality of the flesh from deteriorating. This story has since been largely debunked: saltwater catfish would be unlikely to swim laps around cod. Some species of catfish are, however, sleek and agile predators. Large catfish dominate the Amazon and look for all the world like freshwater sharks. The enormous goonch catfish of India has been recorded feeding on human remains from funeral pyres and was blamed for the deaths of several human swimmers—though it was never proven conclusively. Even smaller catfish are a force to be reckoned with: all catfish possess dorsal spines and many are venomous.
