Dwarf lanternshark
Etmopterus perryi
Size, compared with you
You: 1.7 m. Dwarf lanternshark: 21 cm.
Pocket-sized. Grows up to about 21 cm.
One of the smallest sharks in the world, small enough to rest on your hand. It lives in deep water off Colombia and Venezuela.
The weird bit
It makes its own light. Special organs called photophores on its body glow in the dark of the deep sea.
Quick facts
- Where it lives
- Deep sea230 to 530 m down
- What it eats
- Probably small deep-sea animals. Scientists have not studied what it eats yet.
- How worried are we?
- Doing okay (Least Concern)Assessed in 2019 by the IUCN Red List.