How does an angelfish get a CT scan? First you need a sponge, Colorado photo shows
When staff at a Colorado zoo noticed a French angelfish “swimming abnormally,” they brought it to the zoo’s hospital.
The fish, who was having “buoyancy issues,” was taken from the Denver Zoo’s Tropical Discovery exhibit and prepped for an exam, the zoo said in an Aug. 29 Facebook post.
But it wasn’t just any exam.
“Have you ever seen a fish get a CT scan?” zoo staff wrote.
Nestled between the sides of a sponge, the fish was sent through a CT scanner, a photo posted by the zoo shows.
“Our veterinary medicine teams sedated the fish and ran water intermittently over its gills while they examined the fish and performed a CT scan,” the zoo said.
Social media users were quick to comment on the unusual sight.
“That’s the cutest fish taco I’ve ever seen,” one wrote.
“That is the cutest thing I didn’t know I needed to see,” another commented.
After being on a treatment plan, the fish is “now back to happily swimming in its Tropical Discovery home,” the zoo said.
What to know about French angelfish
French angelfish, or Pomacanthus paru, are usually found living in coral reefs, where they are sheltered “from nocturnal predators,” according to the Florida Museum of Natural History. They are in the waters of the “western Atlantic Ocean from Florida and the Bahamas, south to Brazil” and have also been found in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.
The species are foragers that eat “sessile invertebrates and plants,” according to the nonprofit Oceana.
The French angelfish is listed as a threatened species under the The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.
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