Sea-Devil Has Organs Of Light.
By James Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S. LANTERN FISHES and their allies, in New Zealand waters, and in many other parts of the world, have organs that produce light of great brilliance. • The light in some cases is given out from spots on the skin that shine like stars. In other cases areas of the body are luminous. There are head-lights and tail-lights, and lights at the ends of appendages.
This faculty to produce light is possessed chiefly by deep-sea fishes, which spend most of their lives in darkness. The lights are shut off and put on at will. It is presumed that they have some useful purpose for their owners which probably light up when seeking prey, or put on themselves an armour of light against enemies. The illustration shows a luminous black fish, the little sea-devil, which lives in the Pacific Ocean, but has not been reported from New Zealand. All its long teeth and the base of the appendage, shaped like a candle are luminous.
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Star (Christchurch), Issue 19236, 25 November 1930, Page 6
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171Sea-Devil Has Organs Of Light. Star (Christchurch), Issue 19236, 25 November 1930, Page 6
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