A Vancouver fish no longer has any reason to pout, after he was given a prosthetic eye to end what veterinarians were calling "bullying" from other fish.
"Before the prosthetic, he was being hurt and quite uncomfortable because he was picked on," said vet Dr. Martin Haulena of the Vancouver Aquarium.
The doctor continued that other fish would take advantage of the missing eye by approaching the blind side to steal food or pick on him.
The bullied rockfish had his eye removed two years ago after cataracts didn't heal.
Since then, the poor little guy had been hanging out at the bottom of the tank, losing scales and look "generally disheveled," automatically becoming bully-bait and attracting aggression from other fish.
The live fish receiving a taxidermy eye is the first surgery of its type at the Vancouver Aquarium.
Haulena says that the fish immediately returned to normal, interacting with other fish.
"He's more robust," the doctor comments, "Everybody, including the fish, seem a lot happier now."
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