#splendid alfonsio
Brought to you by a marine biologist and another splendid fellow…
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We haven’t done a deep-see species in a bit, so let’s do it. Also, funny that AC has done two fish with “splendid” in their names, and I’m here in my fish corner entertaining myself. Not sure if these fishies really are splendid, but the people who named them must think they are! So, today we’ll cover the Splendid Alfonsio, a fish that appeared in AC Pocket Camp for longer than a few days, from December 2021 to March 2022. I like how AC compensates for the fact deep sea fish appearing close enough inshore for you to fish them up from the beach is extremely unlikely, by having them show up in the winter when it’s dark and cold like their actual habitat. Who knows…maybe it will come back next winter!
The Splendid Alfonsio is named to species (Beryx splendens). This fish is a member of the Order Beryciformes, a group of nocturnal and/or deep water fish. These include squirrelfish and the Pineapplefish we covered a little bit ago. This group has a circumglobal (aka appears all around the world) distribution in the tropics and temperate regions. The Splendid Alfonsio is a native to the Indo-Pacific’s deeper water near the continental slope, or the area where shallow waters near land suddenly plunge down to the abyssal plain. Here, splendid alfonsio hang out around 25 and 1,250 metres (82 and 4,101 ft). Because of the depths it prefers, not much is really known about this fish, though research is happening, mostly because there is a fishery for this species. The more we know about a species’ life history (aka what it does during its life and how it does those things, and at what age/size) the better the fishery can be managed. Nevertheless, the Splendid Alfonsio is popular as a sushi fish in Japan - called kinmedai or golden eye snapper - and so explains why it makes an appearance in AC as well as other games, like Endless Ocean!
By NOAA's Fisheries Collection , SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble, NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC - http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/fish4120.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8017064
Now, the first thing you may notice about the Splendid Alfonsio (SA) is its giant eyes that take up most of its face. If you’ve been reading along or know a little bit about the deep sea, you’ll be familiar with the fact that deep sea animals take everything to the extreme in order to survive in their extreme environment. When it comes to eyes, fish either evolve huge ones so they can see in the dark or they have tiny eyes with very poor eyesight if any at all because there ain’t anything to see down there anyway. For the SA, those big eyes can let in a lot of light, which is helpful in the dark when you need every photon you can get. Not only that, but the SA also has a special reflective layer in its eyes called the ‘tapetum lucidum’ that reflects any captured light back through the eye to give the organ a chance to get the best picture possible in low-light conditions. Many nocturnal animals that rely on their eyesight still will have this layer. This layer is why your cat’s and dog’s eyes glow when you take a photo of them with flash. If you could take pics of the SA anytime you wanted in the deep depths where it lives, they would also show some eyeshine.
And there you have it! Fascinating stuff, no?
