Scientist say they don't know much about the newly named Ninja lanternshark. Photo by Douglas Long and D. Ross Robertson/PSRC

MOSS LANDING, Calif., Dec. 24 (UPI) -- "Ninja lanternshark" sounds like a video game character, but it's not. It's the unofficial name of newly discovered shark species. The shark's proper name is Etmopterus benchleyi.

"The common name we have suggested, Ninja Lanternshark, refers to the shark's color which is a uniform sleek black as well as the fact that it has fewer photophores [organs that emit light] than other species of lanternsharks," researcher Vicky Vásque told Mashable.


The species prefers the darkness of the deep ocean. If you happened to encounter it there, you might think you were meeting a ghost. The shark's skin is dotted with photophores, which give it an eerie glow as it hunts.

The lanternshark's faint glow isn't a giveaway but a disguise, illuminating the shark just enough to hide its shadow as it stalks prey.

Scientists described the new species in the Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, after catching and analyzing eight specimens off the Pacific coast of Central America. The sharks were captured at depths ranging from 0.5 to 0.9 miles.

The largest of the specimens measures just 20 inches in length, but researchers haven't captured an adult male, so they're not sure of the species' maximum size.

Lanternsharks, or Etmopterus, are a genus of dogfish sharks in the family Etmopteridae. There are 38 known species, but scientists are frequently finding new members of the family.

RELATED Ecological instability favors smaller species

"About 20 percent of all shark species have been discovered in just the last ten years," Dave Ebert, program director at the Pacific Shark Research Center, told Hakai Magazine. "My whole research is looking for 'lost sharks.'"

RELATED Enormous fossilized shark teeth found in North Carolina