Wonder Fish Can Swim Without Body

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 84, 11 January 1950, Page 5

Wonder Fish Can Swim Without Body

A bodyless leather-jacket fish, which experts believe was bitten in half early in life, swims contently around a special tank in the aquarium of Sydney’s harbourside Taropga Park Zoo. Since its capture in May last, this fish has become known throughout Australia as “No Body.” Its claim to recognition lies in the fact that without a tail and little more than a head, it swims and lives a normal fish life.

“No Body” was caught in a fish trap in Botany Bay, south of Sydney Harbour, and handed over to the zoo by Mr Fred Johnson, a local fisherman. Curator of fish for the Australian Museum in Sydney, Mr G. Whiteley,' believes that although there have already been two or three bodyless leather-jackets captured and preserved as’museum exhibits, tlris is the only one of its kind which has lived for any length of time in captivity.

Experts consider that it was mutilated when young and survived only because vital organs were left intact when a larger fish, perhaps a shark, snapped at it. “No Body” was bitten in the centre lin'e across the dorsal and anal fins, balance fins which lie horizontally central on the top and bottom of the body. The fins have joined vertically down \ the after part of the body and “No Body” has adapted them for both propulsoi and control.