6 ms·

How can you publish an article about ultra-black fish without putting a picture of a fish in some recognizable environment? Put it on a lab bench, next to a hu

How can you publish an article about ultra-black fish without putting a picture of a fish in some recognizable environment? Put it on a lab bench, next to a human hand and some printer paper. Or a banana. Anything the reader might recognize. "While some ultra-black fish might appear brownish, it’s the product of camera overexposure and editing" Great. You know what does that mean? You need to find a better photo. That's what it means. What kind of lazy caption that is.

aliante 6y ago
Don’t deep sea fish somewhat explode when raised?
tejohnso 6y ago
Some relevant photos in this article linked from TFA.
marcosdumay 6y ago
If there wasn't overexposure and editing, the fish would be just as black as the background, and you wouldn't be able to see them. Also, there may be none of those fish living in a more recognizable environment. A dead fish is too different from a living one, so it's not worth picturing them. Those photos are actually very good. They show in clear detail how those fish look like, including colors (not all entirely black). They are indeed missing a clear indication of their size (that could be artificial), but otherwise there isn't much to improve.
- krisoft 6y ago
  "If there wasn't overexposure and editing, the fish would be just as black as the background, and you wouldn't be able to see them." Sure thing. In that environment that is true. I bet they didn't measure their reflectivity in the deep, but on a lab bench though. "A dead fish is too different from a living one, so it's not worth picturing them." Maybe so, except that's not true. Here is a picture of a common fangtooth: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a6/cd/3f/a6cd3f0a9cc47b9794fa89633e4b119d.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a6/cd/3f/a6cd3f0a9cc47b9794fa... And here is an other one: https://insider.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/fangtooth-e1406148315656.jpg https://insider.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/fangtooth-... Any of these pictures would have been better to illustrate their colour.
sandworm101 6y ago
It is literally impossible for us with our human eyes to perceive these fish in anything like their natural environment. They aren't even black, to us. We evolved to see things in sunlight. These fish are black at the wavelengths present in the deep. That isn't sunlight but luminescence. Shine sunlight on them and they could be any colour, something irrelevant for a fish that may well live without ever seeing sunlight. So we have a black fish illuminated by a light our eyes were not designed to see, in a place so dark we see can see nothing. Those aren't great preconditions for an accurate photoshoot.
- krisoft 6y ago
  The article states: "“It’s like looking at a black hole,” Mr. Davis said." Presumably Mr. Davis is a human, and is describing the black hole-ness of these fish as he perceived them. In the sunlight. With his eyes. I would like a picture of that. Because seeing is believing. "They aren't even black, to us." You make this whole mythology up about how the fish are. I'm not sure why. Yes they are black. Anything with that reflectivity will be black to us. But we don't have to argue about that, we can just look at this picture of a Pacific Blackdragon: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CwGT8egWEAAtdMf.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CwGT8egWEAAtdMf.jpg
  - morsch 6y ago
    Straight up nightmare fuel.
  - sandworm101 6y ago
    >> You make this whole mythology up about how the fish are. I'm not sure why. Yes they are black. Funny that the one in your picture isn't. The lighting is so poor in that photo. There is more shadow than illumination, and many parts of the fish are definitely not black. Proper black looks more like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY4YX-ofE60 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY4YX-ofE60
  - BrandonMarc 6y ago
    ... I'm trying to think of a witty comment on how he's never seen a black hole with his own eyes, either ...
grawprog 6y ago
https://www.sciencealert.com/one-of-nature-s-blackest-colours-makes-fish-invisible-deep-in-the-ocean/amp https://www.sciencealert.com/one-of-nature-s-blackest-colour... >Incidentally, this is what initially piqued Karen Osborn's interest. As a research zoologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, she grew frustrated trying to photograph a striking black fish that had been pulled from the deep sea. "It didn't matter how you set up the camera or lighting—they just sucked up all the light," says Osborn.
- jfengel 6y ago
  The photos in that article are full of nope.

aliante 6y ago

Don’t deep sea fish somewhat explode when raised?

tejohnso 6y ago

Some relevant photos in this article linked from TFA.

marcosdumay 6y ago

If there wasn't overexposure and editing, the fish would be just as black as the background, and you wouldn't be able to see them. Also, there may be none of those fish living in a more recognizable environment. A dead fish is too different from a living one, so it's not worth picturing them. Those photos are actually very good. They show in clear detail how those fish look like, including colors (not all entirely black). They are indeed missing a clear indication of their size (that could be artificial), but otherwise there isn't much to improve.

krisoft 6y ago
"If there wasn't overexposure and editing, the fish would be just as black as the background, and you wouldn't be able to see them." Sure thing. In that environment that is true. I bet they didn't measure their reflectivity in the deep, but on a lab bench though. "A dead fish is too different from a living one, so it's not worth picturing them." Maybe so, except that's not true. Here is a picture of a common fangtooth: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a6/cd/3f/a6cd3f0a9cc47b9794fa89633e4b119d.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a6/cd/3f/a6cd3f0a9cc47b9794fa... And here is an other one: https://insider.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/fangtooth-e1406148315656.jpg https://insider.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/fangtooth-... Any of these pictures would have been better to illustrate their colour.

sandworm101 6y ago

It is literally impossible for us with our human eyes to perceive these fish in anything like their natural environment. They aren't even black, to us. We evolved to see things in sunlight. These fish are black at the wavelengths present in the deep. That isn't sunlight but luminescence. Shine sunlight on them and they could be any colour, something irrelevant for a fish that may well live without ever seeing sunlight. So we have a black fish illuminated by a light our eyes were not designed to see, in a place so dark we see can see nothing. Those aren't great preconditions for an accurate photoshoot.

krisoft 6y ago
The article states: "“It’s like looking at a black hole,” Mr. Davis said." Presumably Mr. Davis is a human, and is describing the black hole-ness of these fish as he perceived them. In the sunlight. With his eyes. I would like a picture of that. Because seeing is believing. "They aren't even black, to us." You make this whole mythology up about how the fish are. I'm not sure why. Yes they are black. Anything with that reflectivity will be black to us. But we don't have to argue about that, we can just look at this picture of a Pacific Blackdragon: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CwGT8egWEAAtdMf.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CwGT8egWEAAtdMf.jpg
- morsch 6y ago
  Straight up nightmare fuel.
- sandworm101 6y ago
  >> You make this whole mythology up about how the fish are. I'm not sure why. Yes they are black. Funny that the one in your picture isn't. The lighting is so poor in that photo. There is more shadow than illumination, and many parts of the fish are definitely not black. Proper black looks more like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY4YX-ofE60 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY4YX-ofE60
- BrandonMarc 6y ago
  ... I'm trying to think of a witty comment on how he's never seen a black hole with his own eyes, either ...

grawprog 6y ago

https://www.sciencealert.com/one-of-nature-s-blackest-colours-makes-fish-invisible-deep-in-the-ocean/amp https://www.sciencealert.com/one-of-nature-s-blackest-colour... >Incidentally, this is what initially piqued Karen Osborn's interest. As a research zoologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, she grew frustrated trying to photograph a striking black fish that had been pulled from the deep sea. "It didn't matter how you set up the camera or lighting—they just sucked up all the light," says Osborn.

jfengel 6y ago
The photos in that article are full of nope.