Bioluminescent sharks

[Brian G Turner]

I just think this is so cool - the discovery of at least 3 species of shark are bioluminescent.

Glow-in-the-dark sharks found off New Zealand coast

The sharks live in deep waters and are thought to use light as a form of camouflage.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Ursa major]

From the article:

Bioluminescence was also confirmed in the blackbelly lanternshark and southern lanternshark.

The three species were already known to marine biologists but this is the first time that the phenomenon of bioluminescence - organisms emitting light - has been identified in them.

It seems odd that two of the sharks only now thought to glow in the dark had already been named as "lantern sharks", a term applied to sharks that exhibit bioluminescence**.


** - From Wikipedia:

The Etmopteridae are a family of sharks in the order Squaliformes, commonly known as lantern sharks. Their name comes from the presence of light-producing photophores on their bodies.