Mandarin Duck: The Most Psychedelic Fish on the Planet (5 photos)

It lives in coral reefs off the coasts of Japan, South Asia, Indonesia, and Australia, and its population is quite high—it's a common species, and its presence on reefs isn't surprising. However, local predators aren't eager to eat it.





— Hello, can I have a kilo of tangerines? — It's 6 grams, would you like some?



Of course, predators won't eat it. They're predators, not herbivores!

The mandarin duck has no scales and is completely defenseless, but its skin is abundantly covered with two types of unusual glands. Some produce a thick, sticky mucus, while others mix it with a foul-smelling toxin that causes intense itching in the mucous membranes of other animals. Therefore, a predator that tries to feast on a mandarin duck will suffer for hours from the urge to scratch its mouth, throat, esophagus, and stomach—and you wouldn't wish that on your worst enemy.





Eat a tangerine. Sweet as first love!

Their poison defenses work so reliably that the mandarins have become quite lazy. They've become slow and spend their days leisurely swimming around the reef, searching for small invertebrates to devour. And if the fish gets tired, instead of hiding in a secluded corner, they simply sit on the bottom and walk along it using their pelvic fins. Even more slowly and lazily.



Mandarin ducks are preparing to lay their seeds. Botany is so amazing...

The only thing the mandarin duck bothered with was its coloring. The fish painted itself in the currently fashionable postmodern patterns, and it wasn't out of a love of art. A bright and memorable coloring is simply the only reliable way to stand out from the crowd of non-venomous small fish, lest you be eaten along with these harmless little creatures.



— How many jokes about mandarins are you going to add to the article? — Yes.

And this tactic worked for most of the mandarin fish's evolutionary history. But then humans came along, saw something bright and fun, and started shoving it into aquariums and selling it to other people! Since the mandarin fish is poorly adapted to aquarium life, which is why it regularly dies and hardly reproduces, its population has to be regularly replenished. Especially since the demand for mandarins is only growing every year. So far, this hasn't threatened the population of these cute fish, and they live peacefully. But will it always be this way?