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Newly discovered fish crosses Peter Pan with Dracula

Discover Danionella dracula, a new species of fish with unique jawbone fangs and evolutionary adaptations. A true marvel of miniaturization!

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You're looking at the face of a new species of fish and judging by the two fearsome fangs, you'll probably understand how it got its scientific name - Danionella dracula. The teeth do look terrifying but fortunately, their owner is a tiny animal just 15 millimetres long. Ralf Britz from London's Natural History Museum discovered the fanged fish in a small stream in northern Burma, just two years ago. The more he studied them, the more he realised that they are physically extraordinary in many ways.

For a start, those are no ordinary teeth - they are actually just part of the fish's jawbone. True teeth are separate from the jaws that house them and are made of several tissues including enamel and dentine. Those of D.dracula are protrusions of the jaw itself and are made of solid bone. The fish has rows of them in both its upper and ...

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