Surgery of the Day: Fish Receives Fake Eye to Fit In with Tankmates

A copper rockfish at the Vancouver Aquarium developed cataracts in his eye and had to have it removed. The sad little one-eyed guy then retreated to the bottom of the tank and was constantly picked on by his tankmates.

To help save him from the abuse, head veterinarian Dr. Martin Haulena recently performed surgery to give him a prosthetic replacement.

"Without an eye, the other fishes would act aggressively towards it for appearing sick and weak," the aquarium wrote on its blog.

They put the fish under anesthesia before the procedure, seen above.

After the surgery he seemed to fit right back in with the others.

"Ever since we put in the prosthetic the fish is right back in the mid-water column, interacting with other fish," Haulena told Global News. "He's more robust. Everybody, including the fish, seem a lot happier now."