Fish-drop as the embodiment of the world's grief

Nobody can remain indifferent, seeing this fish for the first time, even if not alive, but in the photo. The muzzle of this jelly-like amorphous creature seems created from despondency, for despondency and in the name of dejection. Widely set eyes, a wide mouth, a dull thick "nose" (which in fact is, of course, not a nose, but it does create an impression) - all together is capable of catching the yearning for even the most cheerful individual.

The drop-fish was "discovered" (i.e., first described and classified) in 1926, when Australian fishermen provided a trapped specimen to zoologists. The fish were considered inedible, brought into zoological annals and left alone. In addition, the drop fish itself did not burn with the desire to come to people's eyes, since it lived at depths of over six hundred meters, and close to the surface where the water column pressure is small, felt uncomfortable.

Because of the habitat at great depth, the fish-drop developed a number of adaptations that help it to survive fairly well in the deeps of the ocean. Firstly, it does not have a swim bladder, because with such a huge pressure it is useless. Secondly, the fish-drop practically does not have musculature, and floats basically downstream. For food she does not chase, food comes (rather, sails) to her by herself. Her diet consists mainly of plankton, and she eats the food, just opening her mouth. Small crustaceans swim in the mouth themselves.

Fish-drop is a good mother and does not care about her children any worse than a hen about chickens. She sweeps the caviar and "hatch" it - just like an egg, and when small eggs "hatch" from the eggs, they take care of them, looking for quiet places, "kindergartens" - in the terminology of zoologists. It looks to grow in peace and security. However, at such a depth of natural enemies, it practically does not.

The main enemy of fish-drop is a man. No, specifically, nobody throws a fish on a fish-drop. It enters the net when fishermen conduct deep-sea trawling to catch lobsters or crabs.

Although the fish-drop is known to people less than a hundred years and is considered inedible, there were also such "gourmets" who thought that this deep-sea "jelly" is a great delicacy. According to some sources, in Japan, China and South-East Asia there are a lot of well-off people ready to pay a lot of money for the inhabitant of the ocean depths. However, this is not surprising, if you recall the modern Chinese saying that a good cook can cook everything that creeps in the fields, except tractors, everything that flies in the sky, except aircraft, and everything that floats in the depths of the sea, except underwater Boats.

How it looks in its natural habitat, at a depth of six hundred to one thousand two hundred meters - is unknown. The fish-drop did not leave her photo. And to make it in the near future is unlikely to succeed. But on the shore or aboard a fishing schooner, it looks extremely unattractive. There is a drop-fish mainly near the coast of Australia, but individual specimens are caught in all oceans, except for the Arctic. At great depths fish live, photos and names of which still await publication on the pages of encyclopedias and textbooks. The ocean depths are still very poorly investigated.

Due to inaccurate catching of marine arthropods and close attention of Asian gourmets, drop fish is threatened with extinction. Is the person's acquaintance with this unusual fish so short - less than a hundred years? The history of the relationship between people and nature says that there is nothing unusual in this. This has happened many times. Steller's cow, for example, was destroyed only twenty-seven years after the discovery. But somehow I do not want that fish-drop, this sad miracle, suffered the same fate.