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With a name as cool as “ninja lanternshark,” you’d expect the animal to be just as interesting. But you may not expect them to be slightly terrifying, too. With their bulging pale eyes and gaping teeth, these black sharks look like something out of a horror movie.
Don’t worry, though. At about 46 centimeters (18 in) long, ninja lanternsharks are much smaller than great white sharks. You’re unlikely to bump into them when you swim because they were found 300 meters (1,000 ft) underwater off the coast of Central America.
Lanternsharks are deep-sea dwellers with glowing organs called photophores that compensate for their jet-black undersea habitat. The ninja lanternshark—a new species scientifically known as Etmopterus benchleyi—got its common name from its shadowy ninja appearance that lacked most of the glowing jack-o’-lantern organs of other lanternsharks.
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