Forward Blind Spot
A standard drawing of a fish clearly indicates that there’s a blind spot just in front of the fish’s head because the fish’s snout is in the way.
The position of the forward blind spot is just in front of the fish's nose. Artwork by Jason Borger
However, there are three other factors that must be considered. First, the fish’s eyes bulge out from its head a bit, and that makes the blind spot shorter that a simple drawing would indicate. Second, the fish can actually move its eyes, rolling them a bit inward and forward to see items right in front of its nose more easily. Third, the fish has a sighting groove or notch in its nose to further minimize the blind-spot effect of having its eyes at the sides of the head. All in all, the blind spot is greatly reduced. It’s not totally gone, but by the time any food item enters the minimal blind spot, it’s so close to the mouth that all the fish has to do is open up and eat it.
This is not really all that different than the blind spot that we have in front of our mouth. We still get the fork in there with startling regularity. Unlike Steve Martin in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” we don’t have to have a cork on the fork to keep us from stabbing ourselves. Maybe a cork to keep us from eating so much, but that’s another story.
The sighting groove or notch is clearly seen in this 12-inch brown.