Strange Nature – Fish Freaks

Lurking in the dark depths of rivers, lakes and restless seas live some of the strangest creatures on Earth. These fish are so weird, they barely seem real – from monster catfish to electric eels and the bizarre looking frogfish. Some fish breathe air and some blow themselves up into enormous shapes. Some walk on legs while others suck onto other creatures to survive.

On the flooded salt pans of Botswana, an alien scene unfolds. Sharptooth catfish are on the move. When seasonal rains burst across the landscape, thousands of writhing forms emerge from caked mud, hurling their scaleless bodies across the flooded plains. With powerful tails and primitive lungs, they wriggle over land and breathe air to reach new pools where they can survive. 

In swamps and mangrove forests, the archerfish spits jets of water that knock unsuspecting insects from overhanging leaves and branches. In the deep rivers of the Amazon basin, knifefish use electricity to navigate and communicate. The camouflaged leaf fish drifts along with leaf matter before swallowing prey whole. The electric eel takes weird to a whole new level, weaponising electricity to stun prey and deter predators.

In the oceans, the frogfish is an ambush master, walking along reefs on arm-like fins and luring prey with a fleshy bait. And in the midnight sea, the flashlight fish uses glowing bacteria to navigate, communicate and confuse predators – nature’s morse code.