A Prosthetic Eye For a Bullied Fish

One lucky rockfish was recently given a pretty intense makeover, where experts implanted a new glass eye to help stop some aquarium-side bullying.

The fish in question, a yellowtailed rockfish, has been a long-time resident of the Vancouver Aquarium, easily recognized by the fact that he was missing his left eye. The eye had been removed by aquarium staff in the past in order to prevent cataract complications, but since then, the fish had become the victim of intese bullying.

"We do find that when fish are blind form one eye and there is no visible eyes, other fish seem to recognize that, and will attack from that [blind] side," veterinarian and aquarium head Martin Haulena explained in a recent video.

He added in an interview with Global News that this is relatively common not just among fish but among many species, where the weak, injured or crippled are often taken advantage of by competitors. The theory is that in a world where there are limited resources, the clearly unfit are expected to die, and thus healthier animals will try to keep resources away from them.

"It's a well-known thing that there is natural aggression as different species kind of vie for the best space and habitat they're in, so that kind of aggression is very very normal," Haulena said.

However, in an aquarium there are resources aplenty, and rockfish like this yellowtail can live for an average of 64 years. Some species of rockfish can even live longer, with one shortracker rockfish caught off the Alaskan coast in 2013 estimated to be more than two centuries old.

Haulena and his staff certainly didn't want their yellowtail being bullied for the rest of his lengthy life, so they decided to do something that may seem a little strange - they implanted a glass eye.

With the help of Lesanna Lahner of the Seattle Aquarium, who has done this procedure in the past, the rockfish became the first Vancouver Aquarium fish to sport a glass eye. A younger copper rockfish also received the same cosmetic implant soon after.

"Ever since we put in the prosthetic the fish is right back in the mid-water column, interacting with other fish," added Haulena. "He's more robust. Everybody, including the fish, seem a lot happier now."

You can watch a video of the implant procedure below:

[Credit: Vancouver Aquarium]

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