A phrase to send shivers along the spine: Sharks with light sabers.
These are not Jedi sharks, of course, but, rather, E. spinax, the “velvet belly lanternshark”. As Rebecca Morelle explains for the BBC:
This species of lanternshark (Etmopterus spinax) lives in the mesopelagic zone of the ocean, which has a range between 200m and 1,000m in depth.
It is a diminutive shark; the largest can measure up to about 60cm in length, but most are about 45cm long.
Until recently, little had been known about this species, apart from the fact that like many deep sea creatures it has the ability to glow – a trait called bioluminescence.
Previous research found that the shark has light-producing cells called photophores in its belly, and it uses this light to camouflage itself.
novus advocatus scientiae 