The Stargazer

Most dolfinches - the largest and most derived lineage of aquatic bumblets - are social, active predators, which may hunt small fish or animals far heavier than themselves. They are usually relatively stocky, with short necks, and all species have four powerful flippers which flap alternately to glide through the water.

There are a few dolfinches that diverge from the normal appearance and behavior for their kind, however. Long-necked dolfinches are very rare, if only because the manner in which most species find prey - by fast, active chasing - tends to favor a stocky and more hydrodynamic shape. But one species of dolfinch, in a monotypic genus and family all its own, is very different from the rest. Solitary, very shy, highly cryptic, and largely sedentary, the stargazer is an oddball among its group any way you look at it.

The stargazer is a very rare ambush predator among dolfinches, which is also unique for being completely nocturnal. It hunts somewhat like an underwater heron, waiting for prey to pass close by before striking out. With massive eyes as large as mandarin oranges, the stargazer aligns its body vertically in the water column ten to twenty feet beneath the surface of the open ocean, and there may spend hours, waiting and watching for the silhouette of a passing fish to appear against the dimly lit night sky. Only once prey is positioned directly above will the stargazer lurch itself upward with rapid and incredibly strong thrusts of its forelimbs, seizing the fish unaware from the shadowy depths with its elongated, narrow beak and even lengthier neck. Though it may only catch a few fish per night this way, its extremely low-energy hunting method makes it a successful predator, which has adapted to a niche no other dolfinch utilizes.

By day the stargazer rests motionless deep in vegetated thickets, rising to breathe just once every thirty to forty minutes. Only once the sun is set does this most unusual predator emerge from its hiding place and swim out into open water to take its post, staring ever upward toward the stars.