Didn't see that comin'!

June 5, 2019 12:33 PM

Dragonfish have 'invisible' teeth to help them sneak up on their prey owing to the nanostructures that comprise them, say the authors of On the Nature of the Transparent Teeth of the Deep-Sea Dragonfish, Aristostomias scintillans.

Then there's the eyes: The deep-sea dragonfish Aristostomias scintillans has unusual bioluminescent organs producing red light under each eye. While most midwater species cannot see in this range of wavelength, this fish can see red.

posted by mandolin conspiracy (6 comments total)

She seems to have an invisible tooth, yeah
She opens up, grabs right hold of you hard
She seems to have an invisible tooth, yeah
It takes control and quickly tears you apart
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:51 PM on June 5, 2019 [8 favorites]

The transparent teeth are nanostructured, resulting in reduced Rayleigh scattering

Today I learned what Rayleigh scattering refers to, but I can't help but think they also meant R'yleh scattering.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:08 PM on June 5, 2019 [6 favorites]

“I would see a mysterious light source toward which I would be attracted,” Meyers says describing the prey’s final moments. “Suddenly, I would be trapped and pierced.”

A Friday night in Greenwich Village circa 1978 for me.
posted by Splunge at 2:15 PM on June 5, 2019 [9 favorites]

Jeez, thanks for the nightmare fuel.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:12 PM on June 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

The teeth are interesting -- and good grief did they ever do a tremendous amount of work on them; they set a standard very few other papers are likely to meet, I'd think -- but this fish also emits red light, which is amazing. I can't think of another animal that does that -- and its teeth look fluorescent in the 'red light' video, though I presume that's some kind of artifact.
posted by jamjam at 11:48 PM on June 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

That is completely awesome, thank you for sharing.
posted by mordax at 10:11 AM on June 6, 2019