Transparent hatchetfish
Sternoptyx diaphana
Where is it found?
Marine
Diet and foraging method
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Travel to shallow waters during the night to feed on plankton
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Key adaptations
Hatchetfishes have extremely thin, silver bodies and float vertically in the water, as well as having organs which produce light, making them almost invisible in the water.
Social organisation and mating system
N/A
Did you know that...?
Hatchetfishes use counter-lighting to camouflage their silhouette from predators, and they control the brightness of the light they produce depending on the light reaching their eyes from above in the water.
Taxonomy
Picture credits:
Maps from: http://species.mol.org/species/
"Sternoptyx diaphana1" by Emma Kissling - Résultats des campagnes scientifiques accomplies sur son yacht par Albert Ier, prince souverain de Monaco Albert I, Prince of Monaco, 1848-1922 url. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sternoptyx_diaphana1.jpg#/media/File:Sternoptyx_diaphana1.jpg
"Sternoptyx diaphana1" by Emma Kissling - Résultats des campagnes scientifiques accomplies sur son yacht par Albert Ier, prince souverain de Monaco Albert I, Prince of Monaco, 1848-1922 url. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sternoptyx_diaphana1.jpg#/media/File:Sternoptyx_diaphana1.jpg
