As BoingBoing attests, the Barrelfish has a transparent head and rotating eyes but they don't really mention why it has a transparent head! When I read this story a few days ago from Yahoo Japan, I did some research of my own and discovered that its head is transparent in order to protect its eyes from the stinging tentacles of its favourite dish, a form of jellyfish called a siphonophore.
Try this link for a video, I couldn't get it to work, but maybe you'll have better luck.) Fortunately you can see some more images here. (Too bad this amazing fish has to snuff it in order to learn more about it!)
In other news, I never knew that there was a Bourbon Street in Tokyo upon which Mardi Gras is celebrated. I will definitely have to check it out next year. (There's less chance of getting shot in Tokyo than New Orleans too.)
Japan has an earlier more bizarre version of Mardi Gras called 西大寺裸祭り, the Saidaiji Hadaka Matsuri Eyou or the "Naked Festival" where over 9000 guys wearing giant diapers (褌＝fundoshi) compete to catch some sticks of wood tossed by a priest. Here's some info about this festival. Finally there's a helpful video for those of you who want to try and fold your own Fundoshi, grunting is not optional!
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