Juvenile Batfish

Photo: Tony Strazzari · CC BY-NC

Juvenile pinnate batfish shelter near the wreck in their extraordinary juvenile guise — coal black body edged in vivid orange that mimics the toxic polyclad flatworm Pseudoceros ferrugineus so convincingly that predators avoid them entirely. This mimicry is abandoned completely as they mature into their adult silver form, representing one of the clearest examples of ontogenetic shifts in anti-predator strategy as different defenses become available with growth.