The finescaled four-eyed fish (''Anableps microlepis'') is a species of

four-eyed fish The four-eyed fishes are a genus, ''Anableps'', of fishes in the family Anablepidae. They have eyes raised above the top of the head and divided in two different parts, so that they can see below and above the water surface at the same time. Lik ...

found in coastal waters of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

from

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, small ...

down to southeastern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. They mostly inhabit

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

environments such as

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environme ...

, mangrove swamps, and tidal mudflats. It grows to approximately 30 cm (12 in) in length. This fish mostly feeds on

organic matter Organic matter, organic material, or natural organic matter refers to the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have c ...

and small

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s. In Manzanilla, this fish was found to feed on sand crabs ('' Emerita portoricensis'') and small bivalves (''

Donax denticulatus ''Donax'' is the scientific name of two genera of organisms and may refer to: * ''Donax'' (bivalve), a genus of clams in the family Donacidae * ''Donax'' (plant), a genus of plants in the family Marantaceae {{Genus disambiguation ...

''). While looking for food, they travel up and down the coastline in large groups ranging from a dozen to more than a hundred fish. Like other members of '' Anableps'', this species has

eye Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conv ...

s that are split into two lobes, allowing it to see above and below water at the same time. They can be distinguished from the

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species s ...

Anableps anableps ''Anableps anableps'', the largescale four-eyes, is a species of four-eyed fish found in fresh and brackish waters of northern South America and Trinidad. This species grows to a length of TL. This fish can occasionally be found in the aquar ...

'' by having smaller and more numerous scales (76-83 compared to the less than 64 of ''A. anableps''). They also have a left or right-leaning gonopodium like other Anablepidae members and give live birth.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2423213 Anablepidae Viviparous fish Fish of Central America Freshwater fish of Central America Fish described in 1844 Taxa named by Johannes Peter Müller Taxa named by Franz Hermann Troschel