The South American leaf fish can disguise itself as a tree that looks more like the real thing, causing the enemy to take no precautions and quickly sum it up.
In nature, the ability of animals to camouflage themselves is very important. Normally, some animals unable to protect themselves, such as insects, reptiles or small birds and fish, will have a higher metamorphosis.
South American leaffish are one of the most notorious predators who rely on their near perfect camouflage and the patience to ambush their prey and hide from large predators.
Native to the Amazon River basin in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela, the leaffish not only transforms to look like an almost perfect dry leaf, but the fine details on the body like microfibers at the top. with a petiole.
Leafy fish flex, sway but rarely move vertically, often tilting their body downwards, so they look like a dry leaf on water.
With its flat, flat, dark brown body, the fish is quite leaf-like, plus the art of imitating the movement of dry leaves in water, so that opponents of the leaf fish of South America are almost undetectable.
During this time, the predator probably did not waste time chasing a dry predator in the water. In addition to the ability to mimic, leaffish also have a very attractive hunting technique, that is, they can instantly widen their jaws, pulling their victims from a close enough distance.
Thanks to their superb camouflage abilities, many small animals can avoid the dangers lurking in nature.
When you close your mouth, move slowly, the fish looks like a real dry leaf, difficult to distinguish.
Most leafy fish prey is usually about one-third of their length, but sometimes fish can also suck on victims about two-thirds of their length.
Leaffish from South America were discovered in the 1920s during a documented study of species involved in the mass death of organisms in a stream. A researcher then came across a bizarre “leaf” with an open mouth among other real leaves floating on the surface of the water.
When kept in an aquarium, South American leaffish require strict conditions such as clean water, as close to nature as possible.
