No one can remain indifferent when they see this fish for the first time, even if not alive, but in the photograph. The muzzle of this jelly-like amorphous creature seems made out of despondency, for despondency and in the name of despondency. Widely spaced eyes, a wide mouth, a sadly hanging thick "nose" (in fact, of course, this is not a nose, but it creates an impression) - all this together can catch longing even for the most cheerful individual.
A drop fish was “discovered” (that is, it was first described and classified) in 1926, when Australian fishermen provided a caught specimen to zoologists. The fish was considered inedible, brought into the zoological annals and left alone. In addition, the drop fish itself did not burn with a desire to catch the eye of people, because it lived at depths of more than six hundred meters, and felt uncomfortable close to the surface where the pressure of the water column was low.
Because of the dwelling at great depths, the drop fish has developed a number of devices that help it to exist quite tolerably in the depths of the ocean. Firstly, it does not have a swim bladder, since with such a huge pressure it is useless. Secondly, the drop fish has virtually no musculature, and swims mainly with the stream. She does not chase after food, food comes (or rather, swims) to her herself. Her diet consists mainly of plankton, and she gets food just by gaping her mouth. Small crustaceans swim in the mouth themselves.
A drop fish is a good mother and takes care of its children no worse than a mother hen about chickens. Having marked eggs, she “hatches” it - just like a quack of eggs, and when small “droplets” “hatch” from eggs, she takes care of them, looking for quiet places for them, “kindergartens” - according to the terminology of zoologists. Seeing that they grow up in peace and security. However, at such a depth she has practically no natural enemies.
The main enemy of drop fish is humans. No, no one casts a net on a drop fish specifically. It gets into the net when fishermen conduct deep-sea trawling to catch lobsters or crabs.
Although the drop fish has been known to people for 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 reports, in Japan, China and the countries of Southeast Asia there are many wealthy people who are ready to pay a lot of money for the inhabitants of the ocean depths. However, this is not surprising if we recall the modern Chinese saying that a good chef can cook everything that crawls in the fields, except for tractors, everything that flies in the sky, except for airplanes, 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 drop-drop fish did not leave her photo. And to make it in the near future is unlikely to succeed. But on the shore or on board a fishing schooner, she looks extremely unattractive. Drop fish are mainly found off the coast of Australia, but individual specimens are caught in all oceans except the Arctic. At great depths, fish live, photos and names of which are still awaiting publication on the pages of encyclopedias and textbooks. Ocean depths are still extremely poorly studied.
Due to the inaccurate fishing of marine arthropods and the close attention of Asian gourmets, drop fish are threatened with extinction. Will a person’s acquaintance with this unusual fish turn out to be so short - less than a hundred years? The history of the relationship between people and nature says that this is not unusual. This has happened repeatedly. The Steller’s cow, for example, was destroyed just twenty-seven years after opening. But somehow I do not want the fish to drop, this sad miracle, suffered the same fate.