Ok off-the-cuff comment which I probably don't fully believe but are tarpon the best "boring" fish? Like are they the coolest thing which doesn't really innovate on the form (silver, fish shaped, standard number and positioning of fins)?

This is really cool, it's a display of all the bugs found on a single tree. #Invertebrate

Anyone able to hazard a guess on the identity of the little pelagarian fishes hanging around this Stygiomedusa? Some sort of Nomeid perhaps?

Great opportunity! (And really puts the SI in Parasitology)

Flier for a PhD available based in Southampton, stable isotope forensics, salmon, sea lice - mix of analytical and environmental application development - application deadline Jan 08. Application through QR code linked site

Happy New Year, from our Lemon Pigs to yours

For our final day of #25DaysOfFishmas, we're going full weird. Today's bizarre, lonely little fish is the needlebeard seadevil, Neoceratias spinifer. This prickly little lady is the only member of the family Neoceratiidae, nestling within the larger deep-sea anglefish order Ceratoidei.

Our penultimate Lonely Fish for #25DaysOfFishmas is another quite cute one. This is Triodon macropterus, the threetooth puffer. The only member of the family Triodontidae, this species is found around the Indo-Pacific at depths between ~30 and 300m.

C. aper is a special one on the list as I actually had the privilege to handle a few on my most recent research cruise. This gave me the opportunity to have a play with that snout and the remarkable protrusible mouth it conceals, which is used to suck up small invertebrate prey.

As we really enter the home straight for #25DaysOfFishmas, Day 23 brings us probably the cutest little monospecific family on our list. This is Capros aper, the boarfish, the only known member of the Caproidae.

They all have their own "lore" with them too, which was confirmed by the developers that whenever a new species is represented, the lore gets a real-life fish fact. And that 1700+ is only the ones in the guide! There's a few hundred others that aren't tracked in various parts of the game!

This is a fish that just straight up looks like a 16th-century sea monster on a world map, incredible.

For Day 22 of #25DaysOfFishmas we have one of my favourites from the whole list, another big, pelagic weirdo that I've been obsessed with for many years now. This is Luvaris imperialis, the Louvar, a rarely encountered oceanic beast found across the Indo-Pacific and in parts of the Atlantic.

For Day 21 of #25DaysOfFishmas we've got Cheimmarichthys fosteri, the panoko or torrentfish. This charming little labriform is the only member of the fammily Cheimmarichthyidae - especially surprising given there are >750 other species in the Labriformes, including the very diverse wrasse family.

For Day 20 we have the magnificently ornamented & bizarrely named Old Wife, Enoplosus armatus. This striking character is native to temperate waters around Australia and, while it resembles tropical butterflyfish, it is actually more closely related to freshwater sunfish and basses.

Ok, back to the weirdos for Day 19 of #25DaysOfFishmas. This is Zaprora silenus, the prowfish, a species native to cold, rocky areas of the North Pacific down to about 675m. While two extinct species from the family Zaproridae are known, this is the only extant one.

SEASON'S GREASONS

Right, enough messing about with obscure little deep sea weirdos. For Day 18 of #25DaysOfFishmas we've got a fish that I reckon 95% of people reading this will have heard of. This is the sole living member of the Xiphiidae, Xiphias gladius - the swordfish.

We've got a really cool guy for Day 17 of #25DaysOfFishmas. This beautiful fish is Nematistius pectoralis, the roosterfish. A powerful generalist predator from the Pacific coast of the tropical Americas, this is the only member of the suborder Nematistioidei, which sits near the jacks and flatfish.

For Day 16 of #25DaysOfFishmas we have the only monospecific family of flatfishes. This is Oncopterus darwinii, the Remo flounder, a species found in coastal waters in a small area of the Brazilian and Argentine coasts.

Back on land after a really remarkably successful little cruise, insanely grateful to have had so much experience in the field this year!

For Day 15 of #25DaysOfFishmas, we have the kind of random, outwardly unremarkable but surprisingly weird deep-sea oddball that I obsess about, and the species that made me change my mind for the lonely fish theme this year. This is Scombrolabrax heterolepis, the longfin escolar.

Crazy photo - supposedly the (likely now extinct) greasefish Rhizomichthys also had this phenomenon!

Fun fact - this was going to be in my original #25DaysOfFishmas list this year

Found a gnarly one the other day on the gills of a haddock - apparently Lernaeocara, big problem for people trying to farm cod #Crustmas

For Day 14 we've got an animal I really love. This big weird deep-sea freak is Icosteus aenigmaticus, the ragfish, a predator of jellyfish and squid typically found between 732-1430m across the Northern Pacific Ocean. It is the only member of the Icosteidae, which is loosely related to mackerels.

Speaking of whalefish

Day 13 brings a real splash of colour to #25DaysOfFishmas. This crimson critter is Barbourisia rufa, the velvet whalefish. Barbourisia is found in temperate and tropical waters around the world, at depths of ~300-2000m, and is, of course, the only member of the Barbourisiidae.

For Day 12 of #25DaysOfFishmas we've got a fun little gadoid - this is Steindachneria argentea, the luminous hake. This silver little guy, the only living member of the family Steindachneriidae, is native to the Eastern shelf of North America, between 400 and 500m.

Nothing particularly remarkable about this haddock from yesterday, except that (if I’ve counted correctly) this was the 1000th fish I’ve dissected this year

Day 11 of #25DaysOfFishmas is one of my favourite animals ever, another mesopelagic goof. This bit of tinsel is Stylephorus chordatus, imo one of the weirdest fish in the sea. It is the only member of its order (the Stylephoriformes) - about as isolated as if there were only 1 species of primate!

Day 10 of #25DaysOfFishmas brings us back to the deep sea for a personal favourite of mine. This tenacious, toothy little terror is Omosudis lowii, the hammerjaw. Incidentally, I love this photo which seems to have been taken by someone with my exact sense of humour...

For Day 9 of #25DaysOfFishmas, we're heading back to Australia to meet perhaps the most evolutionarily isolated species on our list. This is Lepidogalaxias salamandroides, the salamanderfish, which is not only the only member of its family, nor order, but is the only member of its *superorder*!

Getting to know some absolute divas in the Celtic Sea atm

According to this tweet I’ve removed the otoliths from 6 wobbegongs in the last couple of days, which is surprising since sharks don’t have otoliths!

Quick one for today’s #25DaysOfFishmas - this rather unassuming fish is Tarumania walkerae. Only discovered in 2017, collected from the Tarumã-Mirim tributary of the Rio Negro in the Amazon rainforest, this species represents the first new family of Amazonian fish in >50 years!

For Day 7 of #25DaysOfFishmas we're getting weeeird with it, a welcome change from yesterday's relatively normal milkfish. This is Phractolaemus ansorgii, the hingemouth, which is a species native to Central Africa that is the sole known representative of the Phractolaemidae.

For Day 6 of #25DaysOfFishmas, we have a really quite important species - this is the milkfish, Chanos chanos. C. chanos is the only living member of the Chanidae family, and is a widespread and widely-consumed species across the Indo-Pacific.

Omg I nearly forgot, happy 19th birthday to the best video on YouTube: youtu.be/6sgG5rNjg58?...

For yesterday's #25DaysOfFishmas, we had one of the most primitive eels around. Today, we've got quite the opposite - this is Cyema atrum, the bobtail snipe eel, a species so bizarre and highly derived from the eel body plan it barely looks like one at all!

For Day 4 of #25DaysOfFishmas we have an animal that I'm low-key obsessed with. This snazzily dressed little fella is Protanguilla palau, the Palauan primitive cave Eel. As you might expect, this mysterious creature was first discovered (as recently as 2012!) in coral caves east of the Palau.

Two Haliphron news items in one day!

For Day 3 of #25DaysOfFishmas, we have a really charismatic little fella. This floating clump of leaves and twigs is Pantodon buchholzi, the African butterflyfish. This is the only living member of the Pantodontidae, a family that was more diverse in the Cretaceous.

For Day 2 of #25DaysOfFishmas, we've got an iconic oddball, native to the Mississippi River Basin. This is the American Paddlefish, Polyodon spathula, the only living member of the family Polyodontidae.

For this year's #25DaysOfFishmas we're going to go in roughly chronological order, from the oldest lineages of fish to the present. We're kicking off, then, with a truly ancient and utterly bizarre animal - this is the Queensland Lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri.

Is the West Indian Ocean Coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) the ocean's weirdest fish? It's certainly a contender, with it's hollow scales, lobed fins, and deep coral cave habitat. I'd argue, though, that it isn't, for one important reason - the theme of this year's #25DaysOfFishmas list...

Can you feel it? #25DaysOfFishmas is in the air, and will kick off on Monday 🥳🐟🎅🥳 As a little teaser before I announce the theme tomorrow, here's a quick odd-one-out - one of these organisms would not fit into this year's category:

Lancetfish are a top ten animal of all time I think, there's just nothing else like them

It has been a great day for the midwater sickos (me)

Also exciting Jethro development - I completely scrapped this year's #25DaysOfFishmas list at 10AM this morning and re-wrote a new list with a theme I'm MUCH more excited about. Really looking forwards to sharing some absolute freaks next month 🐟🥳🎅