Maris & NightStalker
NightStalker NightStalker
Ever wonder how deep‑sea creatures use darkness to hide? I’ve been mapping shadow patterns in murky waters, and I suspect there’s a whole strategy there that could double up as a stealth system. What do you think—any data on how they blend into the abyss?
Maris Maris
Yes, I’ve actually been studying that. The deep‑sea anglerfish, for example, has a skin layer full of melanin that absorbs almost all the weak downwelling light, and underneath that a thin retroreflective layer that scatters whatever little light is left so it matches the random speckle pattern of the bioluminescent background. In my last dive I logged a specimen about 12 mm across, and the contrast ratio on the spectrogram dropped to almost zero when the ambient light fell below 0.02 lux. That makes it effectively invisible to predators that depend on contrast. I can pull up the raw data plots if you want to dig deeper.
NightStalker NightStalker
That’s pretty slick—like a biological cloaking device. If you’re willing to share those plots, I’ll see if the numbers line up with the way we hide in the shadows. Just don’t let anyone ask for a live demo; I’m not that kind of creature.