The dragon fish's fangs are so transparent that they blend in perfectly with the darkness of the deep sea. Now researchers know. Velasco Hogan et al. /matter)
You might expect something called an abyssal arowana to be the dreaded Leviathan of the deep - if you were a thumb-sized sea creature, an arowana would call out for its prey.
Arowanas (genus Aristotle) are week-old (only 6 inches or 15 centimeters long), eel-like predators with enormous jaws, long fangs, and the ability to yawn at 120 degrees. These gaping-mouthed monitor lizards can devour more than half of their prey, but their hunting success also depends on another almost supernatural adaptation: invisibility. While a dragonfly's body emits faint bioluminescence, its teeth are almost completely transparent, blending into the dark depths surrounding it.ntes without revealing potential prey, until the fangs snap.
So how does this underwater dragon's magic work? In a new study published today (June 5) in the journal Materials, scientists took a closer look at an arowana's transparent teeth under an electron microscope and discovered this. The answer, the researchers discovered, is that a series of particle-sized nanocrystals on either side of the tooth enamel prevent the dragonfly's bioluminescence from reflecting off the open jaw.
This adaptation could give the dragonfly the advantage it needs to grow.
“Most deep-sea animals have unique adaptations, but the fact that dragonflies have transparent teeth puzzles us because this feature is usually found when discovered larger species," said Mark, lead author of the study. Meyers, amaterials scientist at UC San Diego, said in a statement that the dragonfish's teeth were large in proportion to its mouth, like those in "E.T Monsters", if these teeth could be seen, the prey would immediately run away . We think the teeth are transparent because they help predators.
Could the dragonfly's invisibility crystal spell be channeled into a transparent material that humans could use (e.g. an actual invisibility cloak)? Maybe. That's exactly what Meyers and his colleagues sought to find out in their next study, according to the release. Pictured
: The strangest animals in the world: luminous creatures from the top ten unknown phenomena of the deep, originally published in "Life Science" magazine