Vicky
Vásquez and her team at the Pacific Shark Research Center in California
have identified and described a newly-discovered shark species that’s
as weird as they get. This fish is a black deepwater shark that glows in
the dark! The combination of dark skin and photophores that produce a
subdued glow give this shark the ability to sneak up on prey and avoid
predators at the same time. Its taxonomic name is
Etmopterus benchleyi, named in honor of Peter Benchley, the author of
Jaws. For its informal name, Vásquez
consulted with several young cousins, the youngest being eight years old.
This
super stealth, combined with the animal’s sleek, black appearance led
the kids to suggest naming it the “Super Ninja Shark.” Vásquez says she
didn’t think her colleagues would quite go for that, so she got them to
scale the name back a little.
“We don’t know a lot about
lanternsharks. They don’t get much recognition compared to a great
white,” says Vásquez, who is a graduate student at the Pacific Shark
Research Center (PSRC) in California. “So when it came to this shark I
wanted to give it an interesting story.”
The shark is
now called the ninja lanternshark, which is about the coolest name ever
for a shark. Still, this one poses little threat to humans. It grows to
about 18 inches long and stays below 800 meters. You can
download the original research paper at the
Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation.
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