Its third eye is blind.
Scientists discovered a five new species of cusk-eel fish in the West Pacific Ocean, one of them having a “rather unique” distinctive eyespots on their fin which extends to their body, according to an article published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Zootaxa last week.
The pink 4-inch fish’s distinctive eyespot, or ocellus — which serves to confuse predators — is black with a “pale whitish-rose ring” around it, researchers said.
The specimen also has an elongated body and “tapering tail” with a mouth full of “many small, pointed” teeth, along with dark-brown bands across its scaly body, according to the article.
Experts dubbed it Neobythites superocellatus, or “large eyespotted cusk-eel.”
More than two dozen other Neobythites species have a dorsal fin, which in some cases extends to the body, but the new discovery marked a first, according to the study.
“We are not aware of any other examples in fishes where a similar [eyespot] structure exists,” study authors Franz Uibiein and Jorgen Nielsen wrote.
The “highly conspicuous feature … requires further attention from an evolutionary-ecology point of view,” they added.
The new species was found during dredging and trawling near the Solomon Islands.
The five other new species discovered are named Neobythites japonicus, Neobythites jonathan, Neobythites zora and Neobythites pako.