Fri Apr 27, 2012 11:50 AM ET
Content provided by Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience
Tiny sharks about the size of a human hand have a superpower of sorts: their bellies glow, according to new research that also showed these smalleye pygmy sharks use the glow to hide from predators lurking below.
The smalleye pygmy shark is one of the world's tiniest sharks, reaching no longer than 8.7 inches (22 centimeters). Julien Claes
Scientists had proposed the smalleye pygmy shark (Squaliolus aliae) sported light-emitting organs called photophores for use in camouflage, but that was never really tested, said study researcher Julien Claes of the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium. “It wasn’t even known if these organs were really functional, able to produce light,” Claes added.
NEWS: Glowing Shark Wears Cloak of Invisibility
The small shark, which reaches a maximum length of just 8.7 inches (22 centimeters), lives well below the water surface in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. The new research, detailed this week in The Journal of Experimental Biology, suggests their glowing bellies (a type of bioluminescence) would replace the downwelling light from the sun, or the moon and stars, that is otherwise absorbed by their bodies.
Read more at http://news.discovery.com/animals/pygmy-shark-120427.html