Black snaggletooth

The black snaggletooth is a hunter of the open deep sea. By day it usually stays below 500 metres, and records run from near the surface down to 3000 metres. It eats fish and crustaceans caught in midwater, and its jaws are set up for the job, with sharp teeth and a long feeler hanging from the chin. It reaches 21 cm, which makes it a large fish for this group.

Snaggletooths are dark, slim and easy to mix up. Count nothing; just look at how the small light organs are spread along the body. On this species they are few and set well apart, with clear gaps between them, while close relatives carry many of them packed into a near-continuous line.

A slim fish with a fairly long body. Large light-producing patches sit on the gill cover and along the lower edge of the jaw, and they look pink in fresh fish and whitish once preserved. A long, thin barbel, a fleshy feeler, hangs from the chin and ends in a swollen bulb or a set of thin flaps. The teeth along the upper jaw are set close together like the teeth of a comb.