Meet the Maggie Walker fish, an ugly little critter that can't swim but still impresses

[depakid]

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There are two "feet" protruding from the belly area that are separate from the "legs."
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It was a cold-blooded thank you present.

When Maggie Walker retired as chair of the advisory board of the University of Washington's College of Arts and Sciences, the college arranged for an unusual gift. They had a graduate student name a tropical fish after her.

Originally from New Jersey, Walker has two degrees from the University of Washington (a bachelor of arts in history from 1974 and a bachelor of arts in communications from 1987). By profession she's an art and design consultant. Her volunteer activities put her at the heart of Seattle's cultural institutions. She's the president of the Seattle Art Museum, chair of the Bullitt Foundation's board of trustees, and a board member in a variety of other non-profit organizations. She headed the UW campaign for the Arts and Sciences, which wrapped up in June 2008 after raising $283 million -- $43 million more than its goal.

In contrast, the Maggie Walker fish is a drab creature that spends most of its time impersonating an algae-covered rock.

The Maggie Walker fish is a newfound member of genus Histophryne, a group of frog-fish, that live on shallow sea bottoms in the Southeast Pacific, from Taiwan to Tasmania.

Rachel Arnold, a master's degree student in the Burke Museum's ichthyology department, discovered it when doing DNA analysis of Histophryne specimens. Arnold will reveal the Latin species name when she publishes a paper about the new find. Frog-fish have big-mouthed faces, like aquatic Muppets. They don't swim. Instead, they shuffle along the sea floor with their front fins. The females sometimes curl their tails around their eggs to carry them.

They sport a pointed lure between the eyes, but it probably doesn't attract prey. Instead it helps reinforce the impression that the fish is a rock. This helps the fish sneak up on its prey. When it gets close enough, it doesn't pounce. It opens its huge mouth and sucks the prey in like a vacuum cleaner.

"He seems like a very entertaining species," Walker says.

Frogfish can be colorful, in keeping with their tropical habitats. For example, earlier this year, U.W. scientists described Histophryne psychedelica, the psychedelic frogfish, but the Maggie Walker fish doesn't have the flair of its striped and stippled cousins. The smallest specimens, less than 1-inch long, are white, while the largest, 4-inch-long specimens, are glossy black, like a claw-footed lumps of tar. Only wobblier.

"When you pick them up they kind of feel like jelly," said Ted Pietsch, Arnold's thesis advisor. But don't call them homely. "Oh no, these are cute," Arnold said.

More: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/410961_fish12.html

[lapfog_1]

1. Pretty soon, he will have his own animated TV show.

"youse bums"

[shireen]

2. awww .... that is so neat.

I love fish as pets. So that little fishie may look ugly to most, but to me it's adorable.