Rare 'faceless and brainless' fish seen off UK coast

[n2doc]

By msnbc.com staff and news services
A rare species of fish described as “faceless and brainless” was among the unusual finds made by marine scientists off Britain’s coast, according to a Scottish government report published on Thursday.

The prehistoric amphioxus species, which grows to about two inches long and has no fins, was recorded off Orkney, part of the Northern Isles that lie off the far northern coast of mainland Scotland.

The elusive fish is regarded as a modern representative of the first animals that evolved a backbone, the Scottish government said.

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http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/29/9802295-rare-faceless-and-brainless-fish-seen-off-uk-coast#.Tv4pnQn3j5I.mailto

[Wilms]

1. That's Tony Blair taking a dip. n/t

[kestrel91316]

2. Well that's completely creepy. How does it eat??

For that matter, does it even have internal organs? It looks like a spinal cord and muscles. Period.

I'm gonna have nightmares.

[DetlefK]

3. no skull-capsule, no jaws... but earthworms don't have a face either

I guess, he would just need lips and something like a tongue to suck his food in.

If he can only eat plancton, he doesn't need a stomach, just a colon, like a shrimp.
If his food isn't chemically complicated, he doesn't need a very large liver.
And if the blood vessel structure of his intestines is simple and straightforward, he doesn't need a strong heart either, like an earthworm.
Maybe his internal organs are just too small to see on the picture.