Three-dimensional midwater camouflage from a novel two-component photonic structure in hatchetfish skin.

ABSTRACT: The largest habitat by volume on Earth is the oceanic midwater, which is also one of the least understood in terms of animal ecology. The organisms here exhibit a spectacular array of optical adaptations for living in a visual void that have only barely begun to be described. We describe a complex pattern of broadband scattering from the skin of Argyropelecus sp., a hatchetfish found in the mesopelagic zone of the world's oceans. Hatchetfish skin superficially resembles the unpolished side of aluminium foil, but on closer inspection contains a complex composite array of subwavelength-scale dielectric structures. The superficial layer of this array contains dielectric stacks that are rectangular in cross-section, while the deeper layer contains dielectric bundles that are elliptical in cros

SUBMITTER: Rosenthal EI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5454286 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature