Ari Daniel

Yes, exactly.

Exactly.

Now, one of the big questions the researchers had was how the shell ears climb.

So in the lab, they reviewed their movements in the video footage and ran CT scans of the fish to examine their anatomy.

They saw that on their front fins, and to a lesser extent, their rear fins, they have an array of single-celled hooks that function a little bit like Velcro, which they use to grip the rock.

Yeah.

What?

Wriggling their way gradually upward, says Emmanuel Vraven.

He's an ichthyologist at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium and helped supervise the research.

Sometimes the fish cling to an overhang, upside down.

That's right.

And some of them fall down and have to begin again.

Oh, no.

It reminds me, you know, actually in Finding Nemo, Dory keeps saying, keep on swimming, keep on swimming.

That's it.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

These guys, it's just keep climbing, just keep climbing.

And the entire ascent takes close to 10 hours.

It's an enormous effort.

The researchers can't be sure.