Strange Deep-Sea Fish Found Walking Backwards on Ocean Floor

Armored searobin in the South China Sea. (Sun Yat-sen University)

London: Asharq Al Awsat

07:07-9 September 2026 AD ـ 27 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

London: Asharq Al Awsat

07:07-9 September 2026 AD ـ 27 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Strange Deep-Sea Fish Found Walking Backwards on Ocean Floor

Armored searobin in the South China Sea. (Sun Yat-sen University)

One of the few deep-sea fish known to trot on the ocean floor can also walk backwards, scientists say, calling it a “paradigm-shifting revelation.”

The searobin grows up to 10 inches long and possesses specialized pectoral fins that enable it to walk on the mud and sand of the ocean floor.

While most fish known to walk on the seafloor only do so forward, new footage from the South China Sea reveals the searobin can walk sideways or backwards as well, according to The Independent.

Researchers explain in a new study that the “fish-prawn” hybrid uses shrimp-like jerky movements and tail-driven swimming for locomotion.

“The study delivers a paradigm-shifting revelation,” Han Tian, lead author of the research published in Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research, noted.

“The deep-sea fish Scalicus engyceros, a representative of fishes characterized by highly specialized free pectoral-fin rays, is among the few fish species known to walk,” he said.

“This extraordinary creature boasts a striking shrimp-fish hybrid body appearance, earning it the nickname ‘fish-prawn hybrid’ in US local media,” Tian added.

The fish was first described by the German-British zoologist Albert Gunther in 1872 but no one knew that it could walk sideways and backwards.

Researchers used deep-sea vehicles to film various creatures in action on the ocean floor across three areas of the northern South China Sea.

They closely observed the searobin’s shrimp-like legs, which they discovered enabled it to walk on ocean sediment.

The fish walks sideways like a crab and even backwards, “a movement or function that hasn’t previously been known or observed in any other fish”, according to researchers.

“The structure is awkward for moving around but it allows the searobin to sense and probe potential prey in seafloor sediment, or even dig into the surface sediment for efficient foraging,” said Tian, a doctoral researcher at the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong, China.

“The creature retains the pectoral fins, which have evolved into flat, round plates, improving balance during walking and swimming while its shrimp-like fin rays and tail enable explosive, jerky shrimp-style leaps when threatened,” he said.

Scientists hope the findings will reshape perceptions of deep-sea life forms and reveal how unique biological structures emerge in extreme environments.

Street Acrobats Entertain Motorists Stuck in Kenyan Capital’s Notorious Traffic

Acrobats perform in a busy street amid by traffic in Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP)

07:44-9 September 2026 AD ـ 27 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Street Acrobats Entertain Motorists Stuck in Kenyan Capital’s Notorious Traffic

Acrobats perform in a busy street amid by traffic in Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP)

As the light turns red at a busy intersection in the Kenyan capital, a young man costumed in leopard print emerges into the street to perform somersaults. He is joined by five others, dressed similarly, as they execute a combination of acrobatic stunts.

One of them, juggling woven hats, breaks away and approaches the drivers of vehicles that have come to a halt. He's hoping for generous tips as he presents his hat to driver after driver while his mates continue their routine. The group breaks away as soon as the traffic lights turn green.

Nairobi's street acrobats first began appearing in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they have since become normalized at traffic stops in and around the city, with acrobats taking advantage of gridlocks to perform in exchange for cash tips. It is how they earn a living.

Mohammed Nyale, 22, said he started doing acrobatics hoping for a life-changing occupation.

“I have always loved acrobatics since I started performing at 15 years old,” he said.

He and others in his group left their homes on the Kenyan coast with dreams of on-stage careers and sold-out theaters, but they have so far settled for the streets, performing their stunts for motorists in Nairobi's never-ending traffic.

Nyale's group gathers in the early mornings in an abandoned field in Nairobi's impoverished neighborhood of Kawangware to rehearse their routines. Next, they move into the streets as traffic starts to build up during the morning rush hour.

“We say a prayer before changing into our costumes,” Nyale said.

They usually perform until noon, taking turns to collect tips from motorists. The amounts given tend to be small, usually no more than 50 shillings (about 40 US cents). Because many Kenyans keep money in mobile wallets, the acrobats also hand out slips of paper with their phone numbers to which tips can be sent.

On a good day they might each earn roughly $6, enough to look after their basic needs, though on some days they make more.

That is equal to the daily wage of most casual laborers in construction or agriculture in a country where unemployment is widespread. The youth unemployment rate stood between 4.9% and 9.9% in 2024, according to figures from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

Earning money from street performances “is what enables us to live in Nairobi because we moved here from quite far and no one is helping us to pay rent,” Nyale said.

They have rivals. Acrobatic troupes have materialized in other parts of the city. Across town, a group including 28-year-old Jackson Okoth entertained motorists along Lang'ata Road.

“There are no opportunities for us that we can go to, so we like it when we are here because it keeps us busy and it keeps us fit also,” Okoth said. “Instead of staying at home and doing reckless things, we decided to come here and perform for motorists and pedestrians.”

Okoth dreams of playing in a professional circus and touring the world.

“I am still on my way, I am still trying, I am still working hard so that one day things might go well and I may find myself in Europe performing in a circus show," he said.

Some motorists see the acrobats as a nuisance. Others welcome the distraction.

“They are a source of entertainment here on the road. They entertain us and we feel good,” said Geoffrey Kioi, a Nairobi entrepreneur who regularly gives tips to the acrobats. “They are young people. They need to hustle. They are like my sons.”

Varieties

EU to Help Cities Tighten Screws on Airbnb, Holiday Rentals

Though hugely popular with visitors, short-term lodgings are blamed by residents in many popular travel destinations for depriving locals of apartments for long-term rent and pushing up prices. JAIME REINA / AFP/File

Asharq Al Awsat

07:21-9 September 2026 AD ـ 27 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

07:21-9 September 2026 AD ـ 27 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

EU to Help Cities Tighten Screws on Airbnb, Holiday Rentals

European cities will gain more leeway to curb short-term rentals such as Airbnb under plans to bring down housing costs in tourism hotspots that the European Union is to unveil Wednesday.

The European Commission is to lay out conditions under which local authorities can limit short lets, as part of an "affordable housing" package that seeks to address what EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has called a "social crisis".

"Nurses, teachers, and firemen cannot afford to live where they serve. Students drop out because they cannot pay the rent. Young people delay starting families," she said in a speech last year highlighting the issue as a priority for Brussels.

Though hugely popular with visitors, short-term lodgings are blamed by residents in many popular travel destinations for depriving locals of apartments for long-term rent and pushing up prices.

From New York to Tokyo and Barcelona, a growing number of cities worldwide have imposed or considered restrictions on tourist flats in recent years, said AFP.

But curbs have often been followed by court challenges from rental providers and tourism operators, resulting in legal uncertainty.

The commission's Affordable Housing Act aims to provide cities with legal cover, clarifying when authorities can take action without falling foul of EU single market rules.

Cities and other relevant authorities will be allowed to limit holiday rentals as well as the purchase of property for short-term letting purposes in areas deemed "under housing stress", according to a draft seen by AFP.

The document laid out a series of parameters that needed to be met for an area to be defined as under stress, such as the ratio between house prices and incomes there.

"Population dynamics" and future housing supply and demand will also need to be taken into account, the draft said, adding any measure should be non-discriminatory, necessary and proportionate.

- 'Structural solutions' -

The legislation will not affect landlords that rent out their own primary residence for short periods of time.

Housing affordability has become a growing issue across the 27-nation bloc in recent years.

Property prices have surged by 60 percent, while rents have climbed by 20 percent over the past decade, leaving millions struggling to find a home they can afford, according to Brussels.

The EU says this is mainly driven by insufficient housing supply but short-term lets add extra pressure in certain areas.

Short rentals account for only about 1.2 percent of the European Union's housing stock but the share can reach as much as 20 percent in popular districts of some tourist destinations, according to EU data.

Holiday lets "can generate important economic and social benefits, especially for households struggling to make ends meet" but "they may also aggravate housing demand pressures in some constrained local housing markets," the EU draft read.

Yet, that's something rental providers dispute.

"For the great majority of cities, the claim that short-term rentals are driving housing stress does not survive contact with this evidence," tech lobby group CCIA wrote in a letter to the commission this month.

In some cities with restrictions, rents and hotel prices have gone up, the letter added, noting Lisbon recently overturned some of the curbs it had previously imposed.

"Europe's housing crisis needs structural solutions, and the implementation of this Act should focus on increasing the supply of homes," said an Airbnb spokesperson.

Varieties

Dutch Peanut Butter Artwork Proves a Sticky Attraction

The peanut butter had to be spread as smoothly as possible, without lumps. AFP

Asharq Al Awsat

10:50-8 September 2026 AD ـ 26 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

10:50-8 September 2026 AD ـ 26 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Dutch Peanut Butter Artwork Proves a Sticky Attraction

The peanut butter had to be spread as smoothly as possible, without lumps. AFP

An artwork consisting of 390 kilograms of peanut butter spread on the floor of a Dutch museum attracted 48,000 visitors, 48 accidental footprints, five phones and one "licking incident" during its run, the institution said Tuesday.

The unusual work, a tribute to artist Wim T Schippers who died this year, was on display for two months at the Boijmans van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam.

Peanut butter was spread on a hexagonal floor measuring 25 square meters "as smoothly as possible, without any lumps", according to the artist's instructions.

"Forty-eight visitors made a fatal misstep into the floor," said the museum in a statement summing up the exhibition. "Five phones were fished out."

"There was one licking incident," the statement added, with a spokesperson telling AFP that a young child was thought to be the culprit.

The museum also received 80 complaints in writing or by telephone.

The big question now the exhibition is over: what to do with the hundreds of kilograms of used peanut butter?

"We looked into whether the peanut butter could be reused, for example by zoos, animal shelters or sustainable initiatives," museum spokesman Rene Timmermans told AFP.

"However, after being part of the tribute... for eight weeks, we could no longer guarantee its quality, hygiene or food safety."

The peanut butter is therefore destined for the compost heap, he said.

The Dutch are a huge fan of peanut butter, often combining it with "Hagelslag" chocolate sprinkles for a calorie-rich breakfast.

The museum said more than 400 peanut butter sandwiches were served in its cafe.

"The combination with Hagelslag was the most popular."

Strange Deep-Sea Fish Found Walking Backwards on Ocean Floor

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Street Acrobats Entertain Motorists Stuck in Kenyan Capital’s Notorious Traffic

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