Ultra Black Deep Sea Fish can absorb 99.5% light – marine scientists declared.
The Deep Sea hold and hides too many secrets, still uncovered.
Research, publicized in journal Current Biology, documented the“ultra-blackness” in 16 species of black Deep Sea fish.
The ultra-black Pacific black dragon, scientific name Idiacanthus antrostomy, is one of those strange black Deep Sea fish.
Marine biologists discovered that it has an unusual structure of pigment-packed granules on its skin.
This arrangement enables it to absorb nearly all of the light hitting its skin.
Only about 0.05% of that light is reflected back, as can be seen in this image published in Washington.
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Read this article to find out more about the black deep sea fish
For fishes, that live in the enormous dark deep sea, having ultra-black skin is a boon as it gives them a cover in the harsh deep sea.
Scientists, for a long time, have been studying some of these exotic creatures to find out more.
They have unfolded the deep secret behind their extreme ultra-black color.
Recently about 16 species of deep-sea fish were discovered who can absorb about 99.5% of the light that reaches them.
The researchers, Karen Osborn, and her colleagues caught 18 species of ultra blackfish in Monterey Bay and in the Gulf of Mexico.
The team measured the amount of light reflected off of the fish.
They further examined the skin using electron microscopy and evaluated how skin patterns might absorb light.
They absorb light very efficiently and even under bright light they seem like a mere shade not discernable by the human eye.
The list includes fishes, like – the fangtooth, the Pacific black dragon, the anglerfish, the black swallower, etc.
The shape, size, and arrangement of their skin pigment are modified to reflect the slightest amount of the light that hits it.
Blackest material – Ultra Black Deep Fish Skin
Their skin is probably the blackest material known till now.
The Co-author of the research, Karen Osborn observed, while photographing the fish that was brought to the surface –
“It absorbs light so efficiently that even in bright light they appear to be silhouetted.”
They inspected 16 species of black Deep Sea fish, who fit their definition of ultra-black skin.
The research extended to six different orders of fish, large groups with a shared evolutionary history.
The discovery indicated that this modification of skin pigments evolved independently in all of them.
According to the new research, the special near-total light absorption feature of the fish comes from the excess of melanin in their skin.
Furthermore, this melanin, a pigment also present in human skin to protect us from sunlight, is arranged in a very unusual way.
The analysis indicates that the melanin present in the fish’s skin is organized into dense enclosures named melanosomes.
Alexander Davis, one of the co-authors of the study and a doctoral student at Duke University, stated
“These pigment-containing structures are packed into the skin cells like a tiny gumball machine, where all of the gumballs are of just the right size and shape to trap light within the machine.”
Because of their quantity, position, and pattern, these accumulations are extremely efficient in absorbing light.
Furthermore, one melanosome can also redirect the sunlight they failed to absorb into their neighbor melanosomes for absorption.
This discovery has great importance for the new developments.
By exploring the different traits of the melanosomes scientists will be able to generate more beneficial ultra-black materiel.
This research can be used for improvement in different optical technology, such as telescopes and cameras.
And it is beneficial for creating a better disguise.
Currently, Vantablack is the most well-known super-black coating.
Though last year, MIT claimed that they, by accident, have created the darkest black material to date, .
It was claimed that it absorbs more than 99.96% of light and to be ten times darker than any item previously reported.