Aega antarctica fish. It has strong muscles in its oesophagus and large salivary glands and rapidly fills its dilatable hind gut with blood. It then drops off the fish and spends several months on the seabed digesting the blood. In a research study, specimens of "Aega antarctica" were kept in a marine aquarium at the University of Oldenburg, Germany, where they were maintained at a temperature of . It was found that they would feed on a number of species of fish native to the North Sea and in this research they were fed on live European plaice ("Pleuronectes platessa"). One fish
Demersal fish is pointed downwards; this is beneficial as their food is often below them in the substrate. Those bottom feeders with upward-pointing mouths, such as stargazers, tend to seize swimming prey. Benthic fish, sometimes called groundfish, are denser than water, so they can rest on the sea floor. They either lie-and-wait as ambush predators, maybe covering themselves with sand or otherwise camouflaging themselves, or move actively over the bottom in search for food. Benthic fish which can bury themselves include dragonets, flatfish and stingrays. Flatfish are an order of ray-finned benthic fishes which lie flat on the ocean floor. Examples are