Dr. Cliff Redford

It helps keep them healthy, as mucus does.

It blocks blood-sucking parasites from getting at the fish while it's sleeping.

Do fish sleep or do they just kind of have a period of low activity?

I mean, what is sleep, really?

It's just your brain's kind of half sleeping, half shutting off.

I don't know.

We're going to say for the parrotfish, it's sleep, essentially.

I know sharks don't really sleep because they need to keep moving because they need to be able to get the water to go through their gills, but...

It also hides their odor and then it acts like an alarm.

So if a predator comes up and touches and breaks this mucus bubble, the thing takes off.

So it's this amazing, adaptive, arguably gross, but who cares?

Maybe that's why they get their beauty sleep and they look so pretty because they use this protective slime all over their body.

I mean, they would.

I mean, the reality is most people that are diving in the Caribbean are doing it in the daytime.

It's much more pretty.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah, night diving's got to have a light.

Not as enjoyable.

But yeah, they would get it all over themselves, but then it would protect them from blood-sucking parasites and bacteria, so...

There you go.