Fun Fangtooth Facts For Kids

Have you heard about one of the deepest living fish with weird looks and the most giant teeth? Here we have information about such a type of peculiar fish, the Fangtooth. It's scientific name is Anoplogaster cornuta. The word Anoplogaster is derived from the Greek words, "anoplo" which means unarmed, and "gaster" which means stomach.

The Fangtooths live in the world's deep-sea waters in the temperate and tropical waters. The Fangtooth is a small, ferocious-looking fish, with a large mouth and teeth, and the jaws are protruding.

The teeth or fangs are pointed and are believed to be the world's largest teeth than other fish of their size. The body is compressed and very thin in size. The length of the Fangtooths' teeth is very long and pointed that it becomes difficult to close their mouth.

The Fangtooth comprises 8-10 teeth. The Fangtooth feeds on scallops, coral, small fish, shrimps, crustaceans, and squids. Fangtooths are also being hunted by other large animals that live in the ocean floor's deep depths like tuna, marlin, and some shark species.

Read below the unique facts about the Fangtooth fish (Anoplogaster cornuta). Also, read about bichir and giant clam.

Fangtooth Interesting Facts

What type of animal is a Fangtooth?

The Fangtooth fish species is a small lazy fish with the largest teeth more prominent than its body size. It is the only fish with the most prominent teeth, and they are bigger than any other teeth of fish of its size.

The name Fangtooth comes from the big jaws and pointed fangs. Apart from feeding on scallops and corals, the fangs make it easier to catch some small fish, shrimps, crustaceans, and squids.

What class of animal does a Fangtooth belong to?

The Fangtooth (Anoplogaster cornuta) is a fish that belongs to the class Actinopterygii and family Anoplogastridae. The name Fangtooth sounds quite vicious, and the animal itself looks very ferocious. Fangtooth fish species waits for its prey to come near its mouth before attacking it.

How many Fangtooths are there in the world?

Since the Fangtooths live in the ocean waters' deep depths, it is difficult for the scientist to assess the exact numbers. They are deep-sea dwellers.

Where does a Fangtooth live?

Facts about Fangtooth fish species include that it lives in the ocean's deep depths known as the Bathyal Zone. In this zone, the sunlight is absent, so it is called the midnight zone. The light is produced mainly by the sea creatures themselves. It generally lies between 660-6600 ft (200-2000 m) below the sea surface.

What is a Fangtooth's habitat?

The Fangtooths are found at a depth of 1,640-6,562 ft (500-2000 m) below sea level.. Their habitat comprises the deepest ocean waters below the sea's surface, where sunlight does not reach known as the Bathyal Zone or midnight zone. Since they live in the Bathyal Zone, they are also known as Bathypelagic fish.

The Fangtooth fish species are found worldwide in the deep depths of tropical and temperate ocean waters. Although they mostly live in the deep ocean water, they are believed to move to the ocean's surface at night.

Who do Fangtooths live with?

The Fangtooth fish (Anoplogaster cornuta) mostly swim around on their own or in groups.

How long does a Fangtooth live?

Since the Fangtooth fish (Anoplogaster cornuta) species lives in the deep sea, scientists cannot find their exact lifespan.

How do they reproduce?

They follow the external fertilization process to reproduce. Since the Fangtooth fish (Anoplogaster cornuta) species live in the ocean's deepest depths, significantly less is known about their reproduction process.

However, scientists believe that they are oviparous, which means that the female leaves many eggs in the water and the males fertilizes them. The Fangtooth (Anoplogaster cornuta) do not look after their eggs. The Fangtooth fish's eggs are left to hatch on their own and feed themselves.

What is their conservation status?

The conservation status of Fangtooth (Anoplogaster cornuta) is on the list of Least Concern. According to IUCN, they are those species that are not threatened, or near threatened, or vulnerable or endangered or critically endangered.

Fangtooth Fun Facts

What do Fangtooths look like?

The common Fangtooth (Anoplogaster cornuta) looks like a ferocious fish with its enormous mouth, jaw protruding out, and large sharp teeth. They have a big mouth compared to their body size.

Although their appearance seems feral, they are small fish and harmless to humans. They are found in different colors like dark brown, light gray, yellow, and black. Their skin comprises scales.

Since they live in the deep sea, they are generally very dark in color and thin. The male and female Fangtooth (Anoplogaster cornuta) have a similar appearance, but surprisingly, the male's size is smaller than the female's.

How cute are they?

The common Fangtooth (Anoplogaster cornuta) is not cute at all. They look hideous. They have a very ferocious look, and their large fangs look vicious. They have the largest teeth.

But don't worry, the common Fangtooth fish species are not dangerous to humans, and you can keep them in aquariums. Although they have a rapacious appearance, the Fangtooth (Anoplogaster cornuta) is not dangerous. They are small fish and are not harmful to human beings. The adults are typically about 7 in (18 cm) long.

How do they communicate?

The Fangtooth fish facts are impressive. The Fangtooth (Anoplogaster cornuta) species eyesight is believed to be poor; it waits for its prey to come near its mouth. That said, the Fangtooth fish are not blind.

Researchers believe that the Fangtooth fish communicates through the lateral fins. On either side of the body, you can see the lateral fins. These fins act as the sensory organ that helps them detect the movements around them and the water pressure changes.

How big is a Fangtooth?

The common Fangtooth lives in deep seawater and is about 6 in (15 cm) long. The female Fangtooth fish is larger than the males. The adult Fangtooth fish is two times larger than the tiny shrimp.

How fast can a Fangtooth swim?

Since these species live in deep ocean waters, the exact speed of the Fangtooth is not noted by the researchers yet.

How much does a Fangtooth weigh?

The scientists do not yet know the Fangtooths weight.

What are their male and female names of the species?

The male species is known as male Fangtooth fish, and the female species is known as female Fangtooth fish.

What would you call a baby Fangtooth?

The baby Fangtooth is known as the Fangtooth baby fish.

What do they eat?

The Fangtooth fish with big pointed teeth feeds on scallops, coral, small fish, shrimps, crustaceans, and squid.

Are they dangerous?

This deep-sea fish is not at all dangerous to humans. It is a threat to the fish it feeds on, however.

Would they make a good pet?

In theory, yes, they would make a good pet since the Fangtooth fish is not dangerous to human beings. The Anoplogaster cornuta are small fish. The adults' size is around 6 in (15 cm) long.

You can keep them in your aquarium. However, make sure that no other fish is smaller than its size in the aquarium since the adults might feed on them. That said, as these are deep-sea fish, it may be hard to source them and also meet their environmental requirements.

Did you know...

The Fangtooth (Anoplogaster cornuta) fish is also known as Ogreish and Common Sabretooth.

The Fangtooth fish hunts by the chemoreception process, which means they respond based on taste and smell to act as signals for their movement and action.

The young ones feed on the planktons by filtering them from the water with gill rakes' help. As they become adults, these gill rakes disappear.

Different types of Fangtooth fish

There are two Fangtooth fish: the common Fangtooth fish and the shorthorn Fangtooth fish.

The common Fangtooth fish is known as Anoplogaster cornuta. As mentioned above, its size is 6 in (15 cm) long. The shorthorn Fangtooth fish is known as Anoplogaster brachycera. This fish is even smaller than the common Fangtooth, about three inches shorter.

How have Fangtooths adapted to their environment?

Fangtooth fish facts are pretty amazing. They adapted themselves entirely according to the environmental conditions. The Fangtooth adults are dark brown and black as it lives in the deep ocean water. The young ones are light gray.

They have a big mouth and large size pointed teeth or fangs, because of which they are unable to close their mouths. The exact length of their teeth is currently unknown. However, they have the largest teeth for any aquatic animal of their size.

Since they are found in the deep ocean water habitat, they have poor eyesight. They are not blind.

They prey on other animals with the help of two necessary adaptations - their long pointed teeth or fangs and chemoreception. With the chemoreception process's help, the Fangtooth (Anoplogaster cornuta) fish respond to the taste and smell that act as a signal for their movement to track down the food.

When its prey comes near its mouth, it feeds on them with the help of their large teeth.

They also have lateral fins on either side of their body, which acts as the sensory organs to move around and know the change of pressure in the ocean water.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other fish including codfish, or skate fish.

You can even occupy yourself at home by drawing one on our Fangtooth Herring coloring pages.