On the Nature of the Transparent Teeth of the Deep-Sea Dragonfish, Aristostomias scintillans

The dragonfish is a voracious predator of the deep sea with an arsenal of tools to hunt prey and remain concealed. In contrast to its dark pigmented skin, the dragonfish is equipped with transparent teeth. Here, we establish the structure, composition, and mechanical properties of the transparent teeth for the first time. We find the enamel-like layer to consist of nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite domains (∼20 nm grain size) embedded in an...