{"id":602255,"date":"2026-08-23T15:42:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T15:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/602255\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T15:42:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T15:42:14","slug":"it-has-a-rather-grotesque-face-electric-organs-venomous-spines-and-can-swallow-prey-whole-thanks-to-its-huge-mouth-which-can-suck-them-right-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/602255\/","title":{"rendered":"It has a rather grotesque face, electric organs, venomous spines and can swallow prey whole thanks to its huge mouth, which can suck them right in"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stargazers are a group of around 50 different fish species, each one as odd as the next. <\/p>\n

These strange-looking creatures hide in the sand waiting for unwitting prey to swim above them before they launch an ambush and gobble them up. <\/p>\n

To help them keep watch, both eyes are located on the top of their head, as if they\u2019re constantly looking up towards the stars \u2013 hence the name. <\/p>\n

Buried in the sand, they\u2019re not just making themselves invisible to prey. Shuffling under the sediment also creates a secret hiding spot to keep them safe from predators. But, just in case, some species also have extra lines of self-defence: they have venomous<\/a> spines and can deliver an electric shock when they need to.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MarbledThere are 50 different species of stargazer fish, including the marbled stargazer (Uranoscopus bicinctus), seen here in Bali, Indonesia\/Getty
\nWhat are stargazer fish?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stargazer fish can be recognised by their strange faces, which look \u2013 let\u2019s admit it \u2013 rather grotesque to humans. <\/p>\n

However, this strategic adaptation makes them great at hide-and-seek. Their upward-facing eyes and nostrils allow them to bury themselves into the sandy bottom and wait \u2013 watching the world pass by while remaining unseen \u2013 until a tasty morsel makes the mistake of swimming too close. <\/p>\n

They usually eat small fish<\/a>, crabs and other crustaceans. When their prey is in range, they engulf them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"StargazerThe stargazer’s upward-facing eyes and nostrils allow them to bury themselves into the sand, where they wait…\/Getty
\nHow do stargazer fish breathe?<\/p>\n

Unlike many other types of fish, stargazers can breathe through their nostrils rather than taking in water through their mouth and passing it over their gills<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To stop sand getting up their nose when they breathe, these unusual fish have fleshy fringes around their nostrils. They have similar fringing around their mouth to prevent them getting mouthfuls of sand while hiding under the seabed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A stargazer fish keeps an eye out for prey\/Getty
\nWhere are stargazer fish found?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stargazer fish live on the seafloor in sandy, silty, muddy or gravel habitats where they can easily hide. <\/p>\n

With so many different species, these fish are spread broadly around the world: in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as the Black, Mediterranean and Red Sea. They aren\u2019t found in polar waters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How do stargazer fish eat?\u00a0<\/p>\n

When a fish passes by close enough to be gobbled up, these lay-in-wait predators open their huge mouth, creating a vacuum that sucks the poor victim right into their gob. These beastly fish can swallow prey whole.<\/p>\n

Not content with waiting patiently for their dinner, some species give themselves a little helping hand. Somewhat horrifyingly, they have a lure growing out of their face that they can use to trick prey into coming closer. Wiggling this piece of skin to make it look like a juicy worm fools hapless fish into coming in for a bite. By the time they realise their mistake, it\u2019s too late \u2013 they\u2019ve become the stargazer\u2019s lunch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

See a stargazer fish hunting in Indonesia\/Getty
\nHow do they dig themselves into the sand?<\/p>\n

Hiding in the sand is vital if these fish are to find food so they\u2019ve developed a clever way of burying themselves. <\/p>\n

They have large pectoral fins which they can use like a spade to shovel sand out of the way as they bury their flat bodies under the substrate. <\/p>\n

Their brownish colour also helps them blend in with the sand around them, keeping them safely hidden from both predators and prey.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

How do stargazer fish protect themselves?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some species of stargazer have shocking self-defence skills \u2013 literally. They have a special organ behind their eyes that creates an electrical charge, which they usually use to protect themselves from potential threats. This organ forms when they start to mature into adults. The strength of the shock it delivers varies but can be up to 50 volts. Although this is much lower than the 230 volts found in household wiring in the UK, it could still give you a nasty jolt so divers and fishers should always avoid touching this fish. <\/p>\n

Some species also have venomous spines above their pectoral fins.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"StargazerAtlantic stargazer (Uranoscopus scaber), seen here at Cabo Cope Puntas del Canegre Regional Park in the Mediterranean Sea\/Getty
\nHow do they reproduce?\u00a0<\/p>\n

These bottom dwellers spawn from late spring to early summer. The eggs float to the surface and hatch into larvae which live in the open ocean while they grow. <\/p>\n

Once they become large enough, the juveniles return to the bottom where they will live their adult lives. As they mature, they develop the electric organ used for self defence and their eyes migrate from the side of their head to the top.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"StargazerEyes on the prize: a stargazer spots its prey\/Getty
\nA stargazer fish\u2019s special features<\/p>\n

Bulging eyes
\nLarge, flat heat
\nEyes and nostrils on the top of the head\u00a0
\nElectric organ behind eyes
\nSlanting mouth\u00a0
\nFringes around the mouth\u00a0
\nBrownish body, sometimes with white dots\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stargazer fish: at a glance<\/p>\n

Scientific family name:\u00a0Uranoscopidae
\nNicknames: Stargazer
\nLength: Up to 56 cm in some species\u00a0
\nAverage lifespan: Dependent on the species but these fish live for several\u00a0years
\nWeight: Up to 9kg
\nDepth: Varies, some species can be found as deep as 385 metres<\/p>\n

\"StargazerStargazer fish digs into the sandy seabed\/Getty<\/p>\n

Main image: whitemargin stargazer in Lembeh Strait, Indonesia\/Getty<\/p>\n

More peculiar sea creatures from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stargazers are a group of around 50 different fish species, each one as odd as the next. These…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":["post-602255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}