How Fish Get Away With Being Colorful

Coral reef fish get away with being colorful thanks to a weird quirk of underwater optics.
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Kate Yoshida | Script Writer, Narrator and Director
Arcadi Garcia i Rius | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
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REFERENCES
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Caves, E. M., & Johnsen, S. (2021). The sensory impacts of climate change: bathymetric shifts and visually mediated interactions in aquatic species. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 288(1949), 20210396. doi.org/10.109...
Hodge, J. R., Santini, F., & Wainwright, P. C. (2020). Colour dimorphism in labrid fishes as an adaptation to life on coral reefs. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 287(1923), 20200167. doi.org/10.109...
Marshall, J.N. (2000). Communication and camouflage with the same ‘bright’ colours in reef fishes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 355(1401), 1243-1248. doi.org/10.109...
Marshall, J. (2017). Vision and lack of vision in the ocean. Current Biology, 27(11), R494-R502. doi.org/10.101...
Marshall, N. J., Cortesi, F., de Busserolles, F., Siebeck, U. E., & Cheney, K. L. (2019). Colours and colour vision in reef fishes: Past, present and future research directions. Journal of Fish Biology, 95(1), 5-38. doi.org/10.111...
Wilkins, L., Marshall, N. J., Johnsen, S., & Osorio, D. (2016). Modelling colour constancy in fish: implications for vision and signalling in water. Journal of Experimental Biology, 219(12), 1884-1892. doi.org/10.124...

[@MinuteEarth]

Yes, we published a few minutes ago, but some lovely people got a time travel ability at www.patreon.com/minuteearth 😉

[@justusmorelos2347]

Y'all straight up put a BETTA FISH in a REEF LMAOOO 0:17

[@alto7183]

Buen video, otro problema es que al no saber las variantes de la evolución biológica en la naturaleza y este caso por interacción humana podrían evolucionar todos los animales a modo de que los biomas, nichos y ecosistemas sean a prueba de seres humanos o en su contra, donde sería guerra contra la naturaleza pues naturalmente todo estaría diseñado en contra del ser humano, sugerencia.

[@alphaapple1375]

#MinuteEarth, can you make a dedicated video about “stress”🤯 which is an invisible emotion, alongside Joy 😁, Sadness 😢, Anger 😡, Disgust 🤢, Fear 😱, and maybe even Surprise 🫢. You could even feature these characters from Inside Out. Have you also heard of Karoshi (過労死) which is Japanese for “overworked death 💀” that happens due to stress which a victim could die from heart attack or stroke after working so hard. I had a meltdown that changed me into a better person who tries to live a happy, de-stressed life. Money couldn’t buy me happiness, only love ❤ can. At 0:10: Hoothoot the Owl Pokémon from the Pokémon franchise is featured in this video. At 0:14: Bruxish the Gnash Teeth Pokémon from the Pokémon franchise is featured in this video. At 0:57 and 1:54: Wile E. Coyote from the Looney Tunes franchise is featured in this video. At 2:35: Magikarp the Fish Pokémon from the Pokémon franchise and Finneon the Wing Fish Pokémon are featured in this video. Also, with an Ocellaris Clownfish, a regal blue tang, a moorish idol, and a blowfish are references to Finding Nemo and Finding Dory.

[@ironbanana2253]

​@@justusmorelos2347 Touche

[@sarad2487]

Ok

[@robertiktomi8498]

Actually, colourful parrots are often very hard to spot in the canopy of tropical trees between colored leaves and flowers. So their colourful plumage is actually pretty good camouflage and not a 'bad idea'.

[@tomasbeltran04050]

But isn't most of it green from leaves?

[@alexanderlenssen5948]

I mean they didn't say parrots are bad, but generally the strategy is bad. Parrots would be an exception

[@south452]

@@alexanderlenssen5948 if the strategy was bad… less colourful species would thus have a greater chance of survival, and the more colourful ones would die out. That’s just evolution. Truth be told, the exception IS the rule. Plus, bright flashy colours are also a trademark of certain animals, (frogs, for an example) who can be awfully poisonous, and/or venomous. It’s not a BAD thing to look like you’ve come fresh out of the animal kingdom’s very own rave, yknow?

[@Kurominos1]

also a point is Most animals are quite colourblind ,,,so they dont see the colourfull animals as colourfull otherwise another point is certain animals see colours diffrent then us so for us a flower or butterfly is may be white ,,bu for another butterfly or bird these thigns are not white but dark purple with orange spots etc certain animals have also groves and spots that only can be seen /shine or get diffrent coloured if your able to see a certain light spectrum (that we humans cant see normaly) and in the end the most amazing fact a white crabspider on a white flower or a brown stick insect on brown sticks is nicely camoflaged for us but for other isnects and Birds they actually not XDD

[@justasandvich7168]

@@south452 If the exception is the rule, then we should be seeing more colorful animals out in the wild. But that's not the case. You might wanna rephrase that somewhat. I get the idea but disagree with the overall conclusion

[@cmuller1441]

As a diver and photographer, I can tell you that below 10m everything is blueish even up close because the sunlight is absorbed during the travel from the surface and only blue remains. It's like using a blue flashlight at night. This is also why at low depths you can use a red filter to take underwater pictures (that reduce the blue so all the spectrum is evenly reduced). But deeper you have to carry your own lights or strobes to provide the whole spectrum and see the colorfulness of the reef.

[@nghiaphung8924]

what a really cool job you have

[@skye4082]

Yeah, just a few days ago I went to see the coral reefs in the Florida Keys and it was a lot less colorful than I had expected. You could barely see anything other than just pure blue. Before that, I had just seen the photos where they’re super vibrant but that makes a whole lot of sense, thank you for sharing your knowledge!!

[@IdentifiantE.S]

@@nghiaphung8924Fr

[@Dragrath1]

I would note that the limited color vision of most mammals are largely responsible for mammals drab colorations so while color has disadvantages with regards to predators a bigger factor on land is that most mammals can't utilize the benefits of communication via colors. Only the old world primates which have re-evolved a third color cone are actually able to see the world the way we do for well obvious reasons given that we are old world primates. Birds have no such limitations as they still have 4 color cones and thus bright plumage is all over the avian world.

[@wren_.]

I feel better about being denied shrimp colors now

[@TiagoH1710]

New world primates have better color visión than most other mammals, right?

[@bkjeong4302]

Except that the majority of birds aren’t brightly coloured. Many are, but even more are not.

[@anonymouscheeseslice6546]

​@@bkjeong4302 we can't see these colours tho so how would we know if they're brightly colored or not?

[@archiecook55]

0:10 Hoothoot and Mightyena 0:13 Bruxish 0:26 Shiny Gyarados 2:34 Finneon, Magikarp Aside from Pokemon, I also noticed a Finding Nemo reference with the three fish on the bottom right next to each other (Clownfish: Nemo or Marlin, Blue Tang: Dory, and Moorish Idol: Gill) And of course, Wile E Coyote at 0:57

[@iceseic]

Noticed them too haha

[@SCC.1868]

Cursola at 2:52

[@yutubenutzer]

@@SCC.1868 wow, I noticed almost all else. I would have never noticed that one. Crazy good eye :D

[@HayatoSurino]

i thought i was the only one searching lol

[@FlygonkingVGC]

I found them all

[@Munchkin.Of.Pern09]

I love how Pokémon just get casually snuck in with the animals lol.

[@jellybean9426]

Same XD

[@ireneding]

The random Bruxish at the start 😂

[@happyyellowbumblebee]

i spotted 3 lol

[@SpookyShadyGemlin]

We got: Hoothoot at 0:10 Bruxish at 0:15 Shiny Gyarados at 0:26 And Finneon, Magikarp, and Marlin, Dory, and Gil at 2:33

[@dundee6402]

@@SpookyShadyGemlinMightyena bottom right at 0:10 too

[@Tiky.8192]

I'm surprised that evolution would select for less colorful and not just keep the colors as-is if water provides such a good camouflage. Interesting as always!

[@babilon6097]

Probably it takes energy to produce all those pigments. Not much but during food scarcity every Joule matters.

[@MindLaboratory]

One of the issues is coral bleaching, where its color starts to fade, making camouflage more effective for the less-colorful

[@blablup1214]

Maybe if there is no "use" in color it loses it's values for selected breeding, so within a few generations this trait can get lost or at least less flashy

[@Shaquex]

It's because there are better camouflages on the open ocean like countershading, it's common on pelagic fish like sharks, tuna and even aquatic mammals like whales :)

[@beardyjesus4591]

The answer. Colorfulness doesn't become a negative trait, but stops being a positive, so fishes aren't forced to evolve brightest colors and they become less colorful to an extent

[@caydes]

My new favorite minute earth character is now the squinting shark

[@reptilemage]

Same

[@babilon6097]

We had our chance with the planet but we blue it.

[@johnsteinat5213]

Brilliant

[@ZachariahMBaird]

I laughed when I red that.

[@bipin2295]

😂😂😂😂

[@KristenRowenPliske]

I sea what you did there.

[@jakistam1000]

Don't worry! If we act quickly we can still orange some solutions.

[@JesusMartinez-rr2ry]

I really love the inclusions of many characters of pop culture in MinuteEarth videos, especially Pokémon.

[@donniemorrow]

PokéSpotting: HootHoot, Mightyena, Bruxish, Gyarados, Magikarp, Finneon Who did I miss?

[@ehco7573]

Cursola at the very end!

[@beanoptodon]

​@BUCK A. ROO that's not a Pokemon

[@ratman6754]

I love how in each episode there’s a few Pokémon mixed in with real species. This episode I saw Bruxish, Finneon, and Magikarp.

[@archiecook55]

There's others too. Look at 0:10 and 0:26

[@Halberds8122]

@@archiecook55 hoothoot and Gyarados.

[@GGwtf69]

theres also cursola at 2:52

[@terramater]

That's very interesting! Our camera crew observed a specific fish with bright colour: the lionfish. They look super cool and attractive, but they're one of the world's most skilful invaders. Our crew learned how the lionfish escaped its native waters and explored its destructive impact on reefs worldwide.

[@kaitlyn__L]

It’s so sad that the early 00s were probably already too late to stop the coral bleaching, yet people still basically took it for granted as part of the environment. If it did come up in discussions, it was always as a far flung future risk we of course want to avoid. Not something we’d already essentially committed to. Bleh.

[@Kurominos1]

at one point it is sad on the other hand .,.. while the great barryer reef dies off (it wil lactually not cause new corals wil lgrow who can tolerate higher temps etc) at other places where it was to cold before for reefs ,,,new reefs will start growing the great barryer is only like a bit over 3.000 years old ,,, so whatwas there like 4.000 years ago ? even the Amazon Rainforest ist that old and a few Tousand years ago there where today is the Rainforest ,,,was just a big Savannah and so was the saharah also a savannah but turned then into a desert we always just see the nagatives ,,,but never see ,,that ecosystems and the world was changing long before us and even we speed everything up destruction wise we also speed up the evolution of new species cause they have to adapt to the new evoriments we create

[@Megatron-ok5gy]

All kinds of saltwater fish...and than There's a betta fish just there. You go buddy. Be beautiful XD

[@zone07]

@1:54 as a nerd I can't help but to point out the misplaced freshwater Betta; yes, I know there're marine Bettas; this is not one of them.

[@ulgenrabishlave4645]

And magikarp at 2:32 hahaha

[@Stratelier]

Magikarp has been found in both freshwater and saltwater since Gen 1.

[@fubberpish3614]

yep, marine bettas are not bettas at all - they're in the roundhead family, Plesiopidae, which are completely unrelated to bettas, which are in the gourami family Osphronemidae. the common name "marine betta" comes from the similar body shape and long fins to true freshwater bettas, but the similarity is just coincedental

[@zone07]

@@fubberpish3614 ok nerd 🤓! I see you trying to out nerd me. 🤣

[@thomicrisler9855]

​@@ulgenrabishlave4645Back at the 1:54 scene there's also a Bruxish lol

[@Scylaceus]

2:37 Love the little Finneon and Magikarp added in there and the Bruxish @0:16

[@TheTablet314]

I spot a green-finned Betta splendens? And a Hemichromis sp. cichlid? Those are freshwater fish, though. That said, I do can believe your points also apply to the great african lakes and the murky waters betta live in...

[@soragami6247]

Thank you. I thought I was the only one who noticed that. Its always either Bettas or colorful cichlids that get mixed in whenever people make "Reef Fish". I'm surprised this channel made the same mistake.

[@fubberpish3614]

yeah I noticed that too, it's really not uncommon to see various freshwater fish mixed into art and graphics of coral reef fish - ime the discus cichlid is an especially common culprit

[@DM-ql6ps]

And of course the bright colors of beta splendens are largely due to human selective breeding. Wild type betta are nowhere near as colorful as their domestic counterparts (although still a bit colorful) - the same is true for guppies and goldfish and pretty much any animal we've been keeping as pet for many generations - people want pretty pets and pets don't have to worry about predators. Even relatively newcomers to human breeding, like ball pythons, are already way more colorful than their wild ancestors.

[@inmyworldkindagirl]

I love the subtle Bruxish just chilling in the reef 💜

[@Absbor]

1:30 I love how the shark is "??? what the"

[@junconglin]

i bet if you told people nemo will no longer be orange they would take climate change more seriously than the ice caps melting

[@lorranyrangel-lf9vz]

And here I am, a Brazilian person, learning English with this amazing channel 😎👍

[@DaHaiZhu]

Birds, butterflies, frogs, caterpillars, snakes, many of those are very colorful

[@Sikk2]

0:21 that in the top left od the reef is definitely a Bruxish. The graphics designer must have had some fun playing Pokémon lol

[@TurmoilTheThird]

Lol, I like the Hoothoot and the Bruxish pokemon references!

[@storyspren]

Love the shark looking like it's trying to read a sign after losing its glasses 😂

[@yordvandamme]

How does the Parrot get away with being bright tho? I need to know now

[@varoonnone7159]

Flying

[@mickaelb.farlay2514]

Sexual selection and differentiation between individuals wins over survival sometimes

[@MoonGlow22]

Its also same for peacocks, being colorful means "look Im colorful and predators can easly see me but ım still alive! Thats how strong I am"

[@stellaleicht4035]

It blends in with flowering trees

[@stellaleicht4035]

Also they tend to gather in huge flocks, ie parakeets, so they have safety in numbers

[@HeisenbergFam]

Land animals watching this: "so you've chosen death"

[@strange_and_magnificent]

Of course Nemo and Dora had to make a cameo.

[@ulgenrabishlave4645]

Can we talk about the magikarp 😂

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

*Marlin and Dory

[@Pippy7182]

Gotta love the sneaky bruxish and magikarp, wondeful video ❤

[@RobAttrell]

And Hoothoot

[@cirodeandrade]

Finneon too

[@J4ap0on3es]

Loved that confused shark. Represents me when I'm without my glasses

[@efi3825]

2:26 I don't know, but that confused looking shark just gets me.

[@ahmedbadr3614]

Love how you casually add the pokemon bruxish in the vid 😂

[@MattKeepsFish]

Why is a betta on the reef 😂

[@deecat2018]

3:01 lmao Average pet store shit

[@VoldeYT]

Even though I finished med school but whenever I watch one of your videos I feel like a 7 years old whos ready to learn everything, thank you!

[@PeterGriffin11]

I like how Hoothoot, Bruxish, Marlen & Dory are in the thumbnail.

[@ellotheearthling]

0:18 Why is there a betta fish in a coral reef

[@andiralosh2173]

There's an allegory here where a colorful environment is a safe place to be colorful

[@ibtehaj95]

I watched NatGeo a lot as a child, hence I first colored the fish normally using bright colors and then colored the water as well as the fish (again) blue. This was in preschool and the teacher disliked it so much that I probably got a zero and she also complained to my parents 😅. Talk about childhood trauma 😂

[@archimedesfromteamfortress2]

I love the hidden Pokemon in every video

[@girasoleorsini2779]

That graphic about the red panda bothered me, because their fur isn't actually all that conspicuous to most predators. In fact, the majority of creatures that might prey upon the red panda are red-green colorblind. As such, their fur actually makes for pretty good camouflage amongst green vegetation. Additionally, their arboreal habitat includes lots of reddish-brown moss and white lichen, making them even better suited to their environment, even when attempting to evade predators able to perceive more colors (ex. large birds of prey).

[@dragoncatoverload]

This is like people asking how a tiger with its brilliant orange and black stripes can be camouflage and then being shown a picture of a tiger hiding in the brush.

[@davidhall7939]

Kate's hyena being underwater with her and having a snorkel was important to me

[@phospheredhuman5630]

The animation in this is lovely lol. That lizard was showing off tooo much 😭

[@imgonnabefree]

Is anyone gonna talk about the Betta in the sea at the beginning of the video? Just pointing it out.

[@iprobablyforgotsomething]

Huh, I never thought about this, figuring that speedy escapes aside, fish simply hide in the chaos of colourful reefs and plants, or are unreachable in small crevices. I think watching too many animated undersea movies has reset my default ocean-facts-and-assumptions, and I'd just forgotten the lowered visibility in general and for colours in particular.

[@acgaming4455]

you brought back so much joy when you said the great barrier reef 2:54 and the destroyed me

[@kipofthemany2213]

ROSY MAPLE MOTH! 0:08 I see my favorite moth species! Woo!

[@LavenderLushLuxury]

Another great Biology scientific video, Guy's...!!! 💙🐡🐠🐟

[@smartperson1]

0:24 it's great to see the hyena show up again. I'm also happy you have them a mask and snorkel, too!

[@recklessroges]

I didn't see the closing pun coming, which makes me very happy. Thank you.

[@nikoanderson3118]

staring deep into the soul of the illustration of a betta fish on a coral reef, someone help him. Jokes aside though this is a super neat video!

[@astralbirthvoid0]

As a wise crabs said "Fish are wise, wise, wise. They chase anything that glitters!"

[@Pyrope_Facet_8_Cut_luv]

0:23 one betta and one jewel cichlid

[@alexbrockwell8158]

What's that betta doing in saltwater?!?

[@cindroman]

I LOVE how you manage to put a pokemon in every minute video ❤❤❤.

[@Chromaspell]

0:25 one of these is a pokemon and the other one is a freshwater fish lmao

[@josereyesbonilla4004]

Not the artist sneaking in Bruxish😂 0:24

[@lonelyPorterCH]

I love, how you always manage to sneak pokemon in^^

[@SojournerDidimus]

Amazing, isn't it, how fish are designed to temper their colors to adapt to other environments.

[@Felix-nz7lq]

Weird to use birds as an example when they’re by far some of the most colourful land animals

[@Lukanimate709]

I love the fact that these types of channels have "hidden" pokemon in them.

[@UkDave3856]

This is why scuba divers carry a flash light even in the daytime. When you’re ten meters down everything is bluey grey even close up, until you shine a lamp on things, and then you see the true colours

[@everydayistacotuesday9847]

"the animals that live on coral reefs" *draws a betta*

[@martialfantasy8772]

damn did not expect a bruxish to pop up.

[@luisfilipe2023]

TLDW: because of the way water scatters light colorful aquatic animals are less visible

[@sarahjberman]

this video is so beautiful :')

[@PirateOfTheNorth]

0:17 I see what you did there with that bruxish pokemon 🤣

[@joecab1]

Interesting video but I gotta be honest that the entire time I was waiting for that Bruxish to show up 😂

[@pythoncasey]

Red Panda isn't colourful to animals with Red Green Colour blindness which is the majority of terrestrial predators. Since mammals don't have green pigment for fur, many arboreal mammals have red fur because it blends in with the green canopy (orangutans, tree kangaroo, red panda, red squirrels)

[@3possumsinatrenchcoat]

the betta fish being thrown in with all the reef fish as an example is painful, lmao

[@CaptainvonDore]

Is it just me or Minute Earth at this point is trying to hide as many Pokémons as possible in their videos?

[@docjoe86]

Where is Mr. Skullhead? The thumbnail promised me Mr. Skullhead.

[@sonnyyanuar4982]

love the way u put pokemon hoothoot and bruxish 😂

[@neolexiousneolexian6079]

Aw, that poor parrot in the thumbnail tho! It's okay macaw; I think you're a good idea!

[@khuongpham5516]

2:27 Cishet shark baffled by gays ™️

[@bigbaz4632]

The gay joke to ever.

[@SardineBreath28]

1:58 Haha, its Bruxish the pokemon!

[@Breadstockimage]

0:10 hoothoot from pokemon between the parrot and bear lol

[@Captain_Tomcat]

why at 18 seconds did you put a FRESHWATER neon green glow fish betta that was artificially engineered using crisper in a coral reef? betta fish are NOT neon green in the wild they are still quite colourful but not neon green.

[@hakmanp.8702]

Beautiful video.. but wtf is that Betta doing in the sea in the end ? 😅😅

[@Sarappreciates]

Don't lament the less colorful fish; they will be more likely to survive us.

[@martinh2783]

But why is there a betta fish in the reef?

[@jayAAlves]

A betta and a Pokemon... Did I miss something?

[@chrislowe8212]

lol the shiny gyarados in the intro 😏🔥

[@rjviereckl1321]

Hey I've got a question for you / future topic: Why are shark eyes more on the side (like a prey animal) than in the front (like a predator)? Aren't they considered apex? why do they give up the advantage of depth perception which would be incredibly advantageous as a strike predator?

[@Primalxbeast]

They probably depend more on other senses to detect their prey. Sight is often very limited underwater. Even in shallow water, the water can be very murky with particles, greatly restricting visibility. Sharks also don't move in a straight line as much as predators on land, so with their head moving back and forth, peripheral vision might be more useful since they can't keep a steady gaze on their prey anyway.

[@graycorlwell8830]

​@Primalxbeast Yeah from what I heard, many sharks can go blind, and live just fine. It seems many species of shark use their other senses.

[@cherrysalmon5108]

i think part of it is because as fish, there’s also a whole other dimension they need to be keeping track of. they don’t just move left and right, but up and down as well. the same applies to birds like falcons and eagles which also have eyes on the side of their head. it’s easier to spot things when you can see in more directions

[@Uhfsrfhjvifuevhiedcbuih]

A freshwater betta fish in the ocean… 0:16

[@davidnguyen3469]

I don't know why the confused shark cracks me up so much.

[@Hotmedal]

We should make water more transparent to light. We can't stop global warming but we can make the deeper regions more illuminated so that colorful fish remain prevalent.

[@maryleesillman3586]

I love the fact that it shows Bruxish

[@Matetas-gv8lj]

To bad sharks literally have an organ to feel the electrical impulses that generate the heartbeat

[@RJ_Ehlert]

Good video.

[@CalebHussey]

1:57 is that a bruxish? (Pokemon)

[@weileytatertot2208]

I like the subtle pokemon references

[@dream_weaver6207]

The missed Neytirix reference on the pufferfish hurts my soul

[@mickaelb.farlay2514]

What is that poor beta doing in the reef ? 😅

[@gec101]

0:26 I SPY A SHINY GYARADOS

[@furinahydroerm]

Anyone notice the bruxish at 1:55 ? One of the goofiest looking Pokémon haha

[@katichu]

0:11 Wild HOOTHOOT appeared!

[@hedgehog3180]

The attempt to end on a light note with a silly pun kinda didn't work when the topic was us destroying the planet.

[@keaganhunt5430]

0:19 why is there a beta in a coral reef