There’s a new glow-in-the-dark shark in town, and it’s officially known as the “ninja lanternshark”. This creature hides itself in the deep where its black skin keeps it camouflaged, while the glow could be used as some form of communication. It was discovered by a research team at the Pacific Shark Research Center, in Moss Landing, California. Measuring 18-inches long, it lives at a depth of about 1,000-meters off the Pacific Coast of Central America. Continue reading for a video of the neon green swell shark.
Swell sharks can be found squeezing between rocky crevices to keep out of the way of predators up to 500m (1,640ft) beneath the waves. They are easily camouflaged in the darkness and often missed by divers, and actually glows bright green thanks to fluorescent proteins inside its skin which are activated by blue light – the wavelength of visible light that is least absorbed as it travels through water. It’s called biofluorescence, and thought to be a form of communication to other swell sharks that can see the light display.
