Dad (bignose) at bottom, mum (whalefish) middle, and baby (tapetail) at top: so different they look like separate species (Image: G.David Johnson/Donal Hughes/Bruce Robinson)
IT IS the very opposite of family resemblance: three groups of strikingly different-looking fish that turn out to be males, females and young of the same family.
Tapetails (pictured, top) live in shallow waters and are named for the long streamers that trail behind them. Whalefish and bignoses are both deep-sea fish, but while whalefish (middle) lack scales and have huge jaws, bignoses (bottom) have long nasal organs and immobile jaws, and live off energy…
