Floods in Croatia Brought the “Human Fish” to the Surface and Exposed a Hidden World Under Our Feet When the Balkans get hit by days of heavy rain, the damage we see is obvious: flooded streets, landslides, closed roads, soaked homes. But in Dalmatia, Croatia, the same storms recently revealed something most people will never see in their entire lives: pale, ghost-like amphibians known as the “human fish,” suddenly appearing where they simply don’t belong. The “human fish” isn’t a fish at all. Its real name is Proteus anguinus, also called the olm, a Dinaric endemic that lives in the groundwater world of the Dinaric karst, in caves, pits, and underground streams where darkness is permanent and conditions barely change. That stability is exactly why it survives there, and exactly why it struggles anywhere else. So how does a creature that spends its life in underground water suddenly end up on the surface? After prolonged rainfall, groundwater levels rise and pressure pushes water th...
Meet “Bumpy,” the Pink Deep-Sea Snailfish Sometimes the ocean delivers creatures that look like they were designed to star in your worst nightmare. And sometimes rarely it hands us something so oddly adorable that the internet immediately agrees: protect this little guy at all costs. Say hello to “Bumpy”, a pink, knobbly deep-sea snailfish with big eyes, a soft “smile,” and the kind of face that feels like it belongs in the next Animal Crossing game. But behind the meme-worthy charm is a serious scientific story: Bumpy is one of three newly described snailfish species discovered at crushing depths off the coast of California a reminder that the deep ocean is still largely unknown, even as industries are increasingly interested in exploiting it. Three new snailfish species found where sunlight never reaches Researchers working with MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) and collaborators described three new-to-science abyssal snailfishes found in the eastern Pacific, a...