Head to head
Bristlemouth vs Lanternshark
Bristlemouth
VS Lanternshark
The bristlemouth and lanternshark are both small deep-sea fish that use photophores for counter-illumination camouflage, but their scale and taxonomy differ.
| Bristlemouth | Lanternshark | |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Gonostomatidae | Etmopterus spinax |
| Taxonomic group | Bony fish family | Shark species |
| Estimated abundance | Possibly hundreds of trillions | Not specifically documented as extreme |
| Camouflage method | Counter-illumination photophores | Counter-illumination photophores |
| Native range | Every major ocean basin | Northeastern Atlantic, Mediterranean |
| Conservation status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
| Population trend | Stable | Decreasing |
| Habitat | Ocean | Ocean |
Bristlemouth vs Lanternshark: common questions
Is the bristlemouth really more numerous than the lanternshark?
By an enormous margin, the bristlemouth is considered by many researchers to be the most abundant vertebrate on the planet by individual count, with estimates reaching the hundreds of trillions, far exceeding any documented lanternshark population.
Do both the bristlemouth and lanternshark use the same camouflage strategy?
Yes, both species use rows of photophores for counter-illumination camouflage, matching faint light from above to erase their silhouettes from predators looking upward from below.
Is the bristlemouth a shark like the lanternshark?
No, the bristlemouth is a small bony fish belonging to its own family, while the lanternshark is a true, if unusually small, shark species.