In mysterious seas hidden from our mundane view, strange fish swim about their business.

Lighting the depths of the darkest waters, lanternfish glow brightly, flitting hither and thither, lighting the way for less dark-adapted creatures. Most lanternfish are gas-light, although some species hunt down electric eels to charge their batteries.

Big hits in the choral reefs while their lights shine, starfish perform the same function as lanternfish, showing the clueless and sometimes gullible the way to true stardom. Starfish come in many different varieties, from the relatively dim but long-lived and very numerous red dwarfs to the huge and bright but short-lived and rare blue giants. However, one should be cautious among starfish as the red supergiants have a bad habit of blowing up over any little thing.

Art and fish © 2011 Marvin E. Fuller