Spot the Flounder
This moldy pancake is actually the flowery flounder (Bothus mancus), a vivid plane of a fish that expertly changes its color to match its surroundings. The very flat fish’s dorsal (top) side is covered in blue-ringed splotches, which help the animal blend in with the Indo-Pacific reef systems it inhabits. Many other flounder species also can change their spots—one 2017 study on flounder camouflage found that the animals matched most surroundings “in luminance and color” and “matched the spatial scale of all substrates except for rocks.” The animals can also bury themselves in the sand—that’s where their flatness helps out—concealing themselves on the seafloor.
