Fish with “Flashlights”

◆ In Israel’s Gulf of Elath there is a three-inch fish technically termed Photoblepharon palpebratus. Better known as the flashlight fish, it lights its way under water. The source of those beams? Luminous bacteria live in organs underneath its eyes. Flashlight fish use these beams to locate little crustaceans, on which they dine. But when confronted by a would-be assailant, the fish first moves along with its lights on, then closes opaque lids over them. With lights off, it attempts to escape by rapidly swimming away in a different direction.