(EDIT--8/5/2019: When these were initially made, I was not feeling that great, but I was so passionate about these and so determined to get them posted on the appropriate dates that me and my team only added the bare minimum of details to each one. This year, they have been refurbished with species names and frames added to the ones that didn't have them, and literal water-marks for all of them, plus tags and text descriptions like the ones below, and finally I have reposted all of them to my other sites. I'm sorry for the long delay, and I hope you enjoy the new up-dates!)

And I'm back with another shark! Today, I have a very interesting specimen.

This, my friends, is Perry--a Dwarf Lantern Shark. Although he's smaller than a human's hand (and definitely smaller than a tiger's paw), he lives a life of luxury--because he's got all the right equipment to do so! So what is Perry's secret to his sharky success?

Photophores! Photophores are little organs that cause a deep-sea animal to glow. In shallower waters, the photophores along Perry's body, fins and "hair" allow him to blend in with the sun-shine coming into the water, and in the deeper parts of the ocean where it gets super-dark (like in this picture), they help attract teeny-tiny deep sea prey to his teeny-tiny mouth.

This is, in my opinion, my greatest shark, not just for the obviously meticulous amount of detail that went into making it, but for the fact that I actually worked on it during one of the most depressing nights of my life, without missing a beat. It’s a beautiful achievement that gives this picture another meaning to me--that even in the darkest times, there will always be a spark somewhere.