Blackdragon fish can disappear in the deep sea’s darkness

In the ocean’s depths, it might take more than a little light to illuminate some of the planet’s darkest fish.

Their ultrablack skin can soak up almost all light that hits it. That makes these deep sea fish nearly invisible. This camouflage comes from a layer of densely packed, pigmented structures just below the skin’s surface. Researchers described this online July 16 in Current Biology. The skin may hide the fish from predators or prey. It might also inspire new designs for ultrablack materials used in telescopes or fabric.

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Credit: K. Osborn/Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Some fish living in the deep sea have ultrablack skin, including this Pacific blackdragon (Idiacanthus antrostomus). It absorbs almost all light that hits it. Such skin may help hide the animals from predators or prey.

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Credit: K. Osborn/Smithsonian, A.L. Davis et al/Current Biology 2020

Unlike normal black fish, ultrablack deep-sea fish have a layer of tightly packed, pigment-containing structures in their skin.

Called melanosomes (red arrows), these clustered circular structures (shown in electron micrographs of the Pacific blackdragon) absorb nearly all light that hits them.

That includes the bioluminescence from other fish.

Melanosomes occur beneath a membrane (blue arrows) just under the skin’s surface.

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This fish revels the darkest part of ocean atong 2000 meter deep.

It's is the darkest black colour on the earth

Sir David Attenborough introduces us to the bioluminescent creatures inhabiting the pitch-black environments of California's Monterey Bay and the unique features of the deep sea dragon fish.