According to a study published Thursday by EST, at least 16 of the recently discovered species of deep-sea fish are among the darkest creatures ever discovered.
This is one of the blackest creatures in the world
The study, published in Contemporary Biology, said Alexander Davis, one of the study's authors: "These fish live anywhere between 200 and 2000 meters below the surface of the water, with very dark colors and often only one outline visible. They look like creatures on the scene, and they're really incredibly black. ”
In Davis's words, these fish are "matte blacks."
To meet this super black standard, a species must reflect less than 0.5% of light. According to the study, a recently discovered species of dream horned catfish has a reflectivity between 0.044% and 0.051%.
This blackness has surpassed the blackness of ultra-black butterflies, almost equivalent to ultra-black birds of paradise, and the bird's feather reflectivity is between 0.05% and 0.31%.
In contrast, black paper can only reflect less than 10% of the light.
It's not easy to catch this dream-horned catfish fish, which is so dark that it often can't even be seen in silhouette. As a last resort, Davis and his colleagues threw a large net 200-2000 meters below sea level and dragged it through the water to catch the fish.
The study found that the fish's melanin plays a dual role of scattering and absorbing light, which is rare in ultra-black organisms. At the same time, Davis also believes that this fish is only a small part of the super black fish in the ocean.
Because — the chances of catching this super black fish are really slim.
