It's a deep-sea dragon fish. The red spot
just below the eye is a photo for a
light emitting organ. Even Robeson has
never seen it in action before. The deep
sea dragon is only 10 centimeters in
length but Robeson is keen to find out
how its light producing organ works. To
seed the photo for in action they'll
need some highly specialized equipment.
The red light emitted by the photo 4 is
too weak to register on an ordinary
camera but the team has developed one
that is 600 times more sensitive. Tested
outside on a clear night it produces an
astonishingly sharp image of the stars
so it should be able to detect the light
produced by bioluminescent animals.
The team have set up a filming tank in a
dark room with water that's kept at the
same temperature as the deep ocean. With
any luck the dragon fish should behave
relatively naturally in these conditions.
Under normal lights the fascinating
creature lives up to its name
it looks truly fearsome and the two
photophores are clearly visible under
each eye but in the dark
the photophores light up. They glow in
unison one red and the other blue and
then a surprise.
This is something that no one has ever
seen before. "That's unexpected
and it's interesting." It's a spectacular
display but what is its function? It
could be to frighten off a predator but
no one knows. We may not find the answer
for many years yet.
