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Aristostomias scintillans
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Taxonomy
The Genus name Aristostomias comes from the Greek words aristos meaning "the best" and stoma meaning "jaw", describing the fish's unique jaw structure. The species name scintillans originates from the Greek word scintillō which means sparkling, describing the fishes unique skin and eyes. Aristostomias scintillans are species of deep-sea ray-finned fishes (Class Actinopterygii) and are members of the order Stomiiformes (Dragonfish and Light fish), family Stomiidae (barbeled dragonfish).

Description
The body of the deep-sea dragonfish (Aristostomias scintillans) is elongated and narrow with small caudal fins, anal fins, and pectoral fins . It has a mature length of 15cm-25cm (5-10 inches) with 54 vertebrate. There is a barbel attached to the jaw with a pink photophore on the end. They have large extremely light sensitive eyes with photophores below. The skin is “Ultra-Black” and non-reflective. It has large, long jaws with protruding “fang-like” transparent teeth. The lifespan of this fish species is a debated topic as a live specimen has never been brought to the surface, they are thought to live up to 10 years.

Jaw structure
Commonly referred to as the shiny loose-jaw, the dragonfish family (Stomiidae) possesses one of the most unique jaw structures in the ocean. Living at depths of around 4000 meters, food is difficult to find and most prey are large compared to the dragonfish. Dragonfish lack a floor in their mouth which allows their long lower jaw to overextend. They are able to open their mouth up to 120° which allows them to consume prey up to 50% of their body size.

Bioluminescence
Aristostomias scintillans is one of the many species of deep-sea fish that can produce their own light through a chemical process known as bioluminescence. A luminous organ known as a photophore releases a high wavelength (red) flashing bioluminescent light which both attracts prey and reflects off the eyes, skin, and teeth of the prey to help locate them. Aristostomias scintillans have evolved several specialized features to allow them to camouflage from their own bioluminescent light and not alert prey of their presence.

Ultra-black skin
“Ultra-black” skin is a feature mostly seen in deep-sea fish where reflected bioluminescence is used to reveal the location of other fish to predators and prey. Most species use this feature as a method of hiding from predators, however, dragonfish species use this as camouflage to approach their potential prey without being seen. “Ultra-black” is a coloration that reflects less than 0.5% of light that hits its surface, compared to about 2% of reflected light which is normal in non-ultra-black deep sea fish. By reducing reflectance Ultra-black fish reduce sighting distance by 6 times. This is the result of multiple layers of densely packed melanophore cells with melanosomes in a dispersed pattern.

Transparent teeth
Dragonfish (Stomiidae) are the only known family to possess the feature of transparent teeth. Protruding teeth and elongated jaws take up a significant portion of their body. Due to their disproportionately large jaw and tooth size, most of the time this fish hunts and moves around with its jaws open. Their teeth need to be both non reflective and strong enough to trap and tear apart prey without breaking. At high wavelengths (red/green), which is the typical bioluminescent wavelength of this species, the teeth show a 73% transmittance which means 73% of light that hits the tooth will transmit through, and an 86% reflectance which means only 14% of the light that hits the tooth will reflect off it. At low wave lengths (purple/blue) the transmittance and reflectance % are much worse at 38% and 39% respectively. Since these teeth are not 100% resistant to light it is important for them to be thin and long to reflect as little light as possible while also being strong enough to not crack while attacking large prey. Because the teeth are transparent, they lack features normally present such as dentin tubes and pulp cavities which prevent teeth from shattering when chipped or cracked, and also give the tooth structure. To give the tooth shape and prevent damage, their composition involves multiple specialized characteristics. These teeth possess a 2-layer composition which helps to minimize damage. The outside layer is extremely dense and able to chip, crack, and wear down without damaging the less resistant inner layer. The outside layer consists of small (~20nm diameter) nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite grain like pieces which gives the tooth its transparent nature while also remaining extremely tough and damage resistant. The inner layer consists of transparent collagen fibril nanorods coated in the same Nanocrystalline Hydroxyapatite this is what gives the tooth its shape. In order to maintain a “fang-like” long and thin shape, which is ideal for non-reflectance and trapping prey, but not ideal for durability, the thinner tip portion of the tooth has a thicker layer of the dense Nanocrystalline Hydroxyapatite. This means the tip will be slightly less transparent than the thicker base portion of the tooth, which has a thinner layer of the dense Nanocrystalline Hydroxyapatite.