Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Rise of the Ratfish in Puget Sound

Aboard a fishing boat, researcher Wayne Palsson cradles a "good-looking " ratfish pulled from the depths of Puget Sound. The ratfish has ancestors back more than 300 million years, a nose studded with electrical organs that can sense the heartbeats of tiny crustaceans and clams buried in mud, pectoral fins that flap like bat wings, a venomous dorsal spine and eyes designed to see in the dark depths.