(upbeat music)
♪ ♪
SAM: Oceans are filled with so much wildlife,
creatures big and small, the exotic and beautiful,
to the wonderfully weird.
Hey, it’s me, Sam!
Wouldn’t it be so cool if you could change colors?
Well, there’s a fish in there that can not only change its colors,
but acts just like a chameleon and can blend right into the sand!
See? Wait…
He was just there a minute ago. Now he’s gone.
We’ve got to go see if we can find him. Come on!
Let’s go get suited up and dive down
to learn more cool facts about the sand tilefish.
♪ ♪
(upbeat music)
SAM: I’m here at the National Aquarium
with senior dive safety officer Jackie Cooper.
We’re diving in the Atlantic coral reef tank
to check out the sand tilefish.
Ready, set, go.
♪ ♪
Look at all the tropical fish!
WOMAN: ♪ I see colors ♪
♪ Wherever we go ♪
SAM: Jackie says there’s nearly 1,000 of them in this tank.
That’s a lot of fish!
♪ ♪
SAM: Now this is going to be a challenge.
To find a fish that likes to blend in the sand
among all these creatures?
♪ ♪
Maybe if I swim closer to the bottom,
I might find him in the sand.
(dramatic music)
SAM: Whoa! That fish just moved that rock!
That’s amazing!
♪ ♪
It’s got to be the sand tilefish.
(upbeat music)
SAM: It’s long and thin.
See how it blends and can disappear?
♪ ♪
First it’s there, then it’s not.
That’s a pretty tricky fish.
Let’s go up and find out what other cool things the sand tilefish can do.
Did you see the fish that ran into you?
That was the coolest thing ever!
JACKIE: That was a sand tilefish.
It burrows in the sand.
That’s why they call them sand tilefish.
SAM: That is so cool.
Why do they like to burrow?
It’s a way of building a safe place to live.
SAM: Do they use the rocks when they burrow?
JACKIE: If you noticed, it moved the rock to the top of the burrow,
so that eventually, it’ll build a little ring of rocks around the entrance to its burrow.
JACKIE: And when it goes in its burrow at the end of the day,
it’ll close the burrow behind it with one of those rocks.
SAM: It’s like its own little door
to keep out unwanted guests.
What is different about the sand tile anatomy?
JACKIE: Did you notice that it was a long fish
and it had a really long extended dorsal fin?
That lets it dig in the sand and lift heavy rocks
and move them around like a longer lever.
SAM: An adult sand tilefish can grow up to 27 inches,
about the size of two rulers,
so they’re strong and great diggers.
Do sand tiles change color like queen triggerfish do?
JACKIE: So they don’t turn purple like a queen trigger,
but they can change color, and typically
when they’re showing breeding colors,
the top of the body will be dark
and the bottom half of the body will be light.
So it’ll almost be like dark on the top and light on the bottom.
(jazzy music)
♪ ♪
JACKIE: Did you notice on their face
that they have iridescent blue markings?
Yes, I noticed them.
They were right around the eyes.
SAM: Yeah, it was really, really pretty.
These fish are quite impressive.
Thanks, Jackie, for taking us along for the dive.
(upbeat music)
♪ ♪
Today was so fun!
What are some cool facts that we learned about the sand tilefish?
SAM: They move rocks with their mouth.
After they move the rock with their mouth,
they use it as a door in their burrow,
and then close it like “Do not enter.”
A fish that can change colors and make itself invisible to predators?
That’s one super smart fish.
Bye, everybody. See you next time What Sam Sees.
