Fangtooth

• GeneralIt has the largest teeth in the ocean relative to body size.
• anatomíaRelative to the size of its head, it has some of the largest teeth in the whole ocean.
• The lower ones are so long that they do not fit in its mouth and slot into two sheaths on either side of the brain.
• The juveniles are so unlike the adults, with spines on the head and no fangs, that for years they were classified as a different species.
• Its skin, black and velvety, absorbs almost all the light that reaches it and makes it invisible against the biological lanterns of other animals.
• Relative to body size it has the largest teeth of any fish: the lower fangs are so long that they fit into sockets on either side of the brain when it closes its mouth.
• Adults and juveniles are so different that in the nineteenth century they were described as separate species: the young are grey, with long spines on the head and no fangs, and filter plankton with their gill rakers.
• Unlike many deep-sea fish, it does retain a swim bladder.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bony fish)

Habitat and environment

The bathypelagic zone (500-5,000 m)

Sexual maturity

From about 13 cm

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Anoplogaster cornuta