Name: Study uncovers camouflage traits of ultra-black fish in deep, dark sea
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Study uncovers camouflage traits of ultra-black fish in deep, dark sea

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This article was published more than&nbsp;2 years agoCommentGift ShareFor fish inhabiting the immense darkness of the deep sea, being ultra-black offers great camouflage in a fish-eat-fish world. Scientists studying some of these exotic creatures have unraveled the secret behind their extreme color.These fish — like the fangtooth, the Pacific blackdragon, the anglerfish and the black swallower — have modified the shape, size and packing of the pigment in their skin to the point that it reflects less than 0.5 percent of light that hits it, researchers said recently.They studied 16 species that fit this definition of ultra-black. These spanned six different orders of fish — large groupings that each have a shared evolutionary history — indicating this modification evolved independently in all of them.“In the deep, open ocean, there is nowhere to hide and a lot of hungry predators,” said zoologist Karen Osborn of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, a co-author of the research published in the journal Current Biology. “An animal’s only option is to blend in with the background.”AdvertisementVery little sunlight penetrates more than 650 feet below the ocean’s surface. Some of these fish reside three miles deep.At such depths, bioluminescence — light emission by living organisms — is the only light source. Some of the ultra-black fish have bioluminescent lures on their bodies to coax prey close enough to be eaten.The skin of these fish is among the blackest material known, absorbing light so efficiently that even in bright light they appear to be silhouettes, as Osborn discovered when trying to photograph them after they were brought to the surface.The pigment melanin is abundant in this skin and distributed in an unusual fashion. By packaging perfectly sized and shaped melanosomes — pigment-filled structures within the skin cells — into tightly packed and continuous layers at the skin’s surface, the fish ensure that essentially all light reaching them will hit this layer and never escape.“This mechanism of making thin and flexible ultra-black material could be used to create ultra-black materials for high-tech optics or for camouflage material for night ops,” Osborn said.— ReutersCommentsGift ArticleTOP STORIESThe Post’s ViewOpinions from the Washington Post Editorial Board.Try a different topic or to save your preferences

This article was published more than&nbsp;2 years agoCommentGift ShareFor fish inhabiting the immense darkness of the deep sea, being ultra-black offers great camouflage in a fish-eat-fish world. Scientists studying some of these exotic creatures have unraveled the secret behind their extreme color.These fish — like the fangtooth, the Pacific blackdragon, the anglerfish and the black swallower — have modified the shape, size and packing of the pigment in their skin to the point that it reflects less than 0.5 percent of light that hits it, researchers said recently.They studied 16 species...

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Study uncovers camouflage traits of ultra-black fish in deep, dark sea

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