Guest
I was diving Blairgowrie Yacht Marina on the Mornington Peninsula (Tuesday April 10th 2012) when I cam across two stargazers - these fish are called this because when they are buried all you can see are their eyes and the rim of their mouth... and it looks like they are gazing upwards... and they often look angry and groosim! The smaller of the two stargazer's lunged from the sand after I had whisked away the light cover of sand that was camouflaging it. The fish then opened its mouth ever so wide and then emerged from its buried position and swam away. I followed it, filming as it came to a stop about 5 metres away, then proceeded to bury itself again - agh, the wonders of nature under water! I think the one I filmed is either the Easter Stargazer or the Common Stargazer. FROM WIKIPEDIA..... The stargazers are a family Uranoscopidae. They have eyes on top of their heads (hence the name). The family includes about 51 species (one extinct) in 8 genera, all marine and found worldwide in shallow waters. In addition to the top-mounted eyes, stargazers also have a large upward-facing mouth in a large head. Their usual habit is to bury themselves in sand, and leap upwards to ambush prey (benthic fish and invertebrates) that pass overhead. Lengths range from 18 cm up to 90 cm, for the giant stargazer Kathetostoma giganteum. Stargazers are venomous; they have two large poisonous spines situated behind the opercle and above the pectoral fins. Some species can also cause electric shocks. They have an electric organ consisting of modified eye muscles. They are one of the few marine bony fishes that are electrogenic.
