Ghoul-hardy

The waters of the Philippines and Indonesia are cradles of evolution with levels of biodiversity unsurpassed anywhere on the planet. Which is a longwinded way of saying there is some really weird stuff swimming, walking and crawling around down there.

This is Inimicus filamentosus, from a family of scorpionfishes known as ghouls. I'ts also known as the indian walkman or two-stick stingfish. Underneath its belly you can see a pair of modified fin rays it uses to walk around on. The big white patches are defense display patches and some of those fin rays will carry a defensive sting. Ultimately I don't have much to say about this one, it's just really weird.