Solvin Zankl/naturepl.com
By Alice Klein
THESE fearsome-looking teeth aren’t just for show. This common fangtooth (Anoplogaster cornuta) is an aggressive hunter, and members of its species have been observed eating fish one-third their size. It has the largest teeth of any marine species relative to the size of its body.
German photographer Solvin Zankl snapped the 20-centimetre-long fish when he joined a deep sea expedition off the African island nation of Cape Verde in November 2015.
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Marine biologists on board the German research vessel Maria S. Merian took net samples between 150 and 1000 metres down and Zankl photographed the species they collected in a temperature-controlled tank.
Solvin Zankl/naturepl.com
The fangtooth is found 500 to 5000 metres below the surface in tropical and temperate oceans. The two middle fangs on its lower jaw grow so long, they have to slot into sockets on either side of its brain when it closes its mouth.
However, these hunters are also vulnerable to predation by bigger fish such as tuna and marlin, and so they use their dark colour as camouflage in the murky depths.
The expedition found many other bizarre deep sea creatures. Zankl also snapped a see-through octopus, a strange flattened fish and a squid with a single, bulging eye.
This article appeared in print under the headline “Ready for its close-up”
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