Fangtooth

deep sea · ocean creatures · extreme survivors

Enormous fangs. Fangtooths have teeth so big that they don't even fit inside their mouths when closed. Their two largest teeth stick out like daggers, which is exactly how they got their name.

Lives in the deep. These fish live hundreds of meters down where almost no light reaches. Even though it's dark and cold down there, fangtooths hunt for smaller fish and crustaceans by using their big eyes and those scary teeth.

Surprisingly small eyes. For a creature with such huge teeth, fangtooths have surprisingly tiny eyes. Scientists think their small eyes are actually perfect for the dark ocean where they live, since there's barely any light to see anyway.

Only two species. The fangtooth family is very small, with just two almost identical species living in oceans around the world. Scientists haven't found any close relatives to these unusual fish, making them pretty unique in the ocean.

Ocean wanderers. Fangtooths are found in tropical and cold-temperate waters all over the world, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They're one of the ocean's most successful deep-sea hunters, even though we rarely see them.