The camouflage used by various deep sea creatures may well be another creature or many of them since it may be bacteria which greatly reduce reflection of light from hunters with bioluminescent ability. (Science Daily: Midwater ocean creatures use nanotech camouflage)
Phronima is a crustacean that lives in the twilight zone of the ocean, where there is nowhere to hide from predators. In addition to being nearly transparent, a new study has found that she and other midwater crustaceans carry an anti-reflective optical coating that may be made of living bacteria. At top left is the hollowed out shell of her prey, the salp, which becomes a floating nest to raise her babies, one of which is below her tail.
Credit: Laura Bagge, Duke University
Weirder still, these coatings appear to be made of living bacteria.
When viewed under an electron microscope, the optical coating appears as a sheet of fairly uniform beads, smaller than the wavelength of light. "This coating of little spheres reduces reflections the same way putting a shag carpet on the walls of a recording studio would soften echoes," said study leader Laura Bagge, a Ph.D. candidate at Duke working with biologist Sönke Johnsen.
Phronima is a crustacean that lives in the twilight zone of the ocean, where there is nowhere to hide from predators. In addition to being nearly transparent, a new study has found that she and other midwater crustaceans carry an anti-reflective optical coating that may be made of living bacteria. At top left is the hollowed out shell of her prey, the salp, which becomes a floating nest to raise her babies, one of which is below her tail.
Credit: Laura Bagge, Duke University
- Science Daily
Here they present detail on the effectiveness of the possibly-living camouflage.
A new study from Duke University and the Smithsonian Institution has found that these midwater hyperiid amphipods are covered with anti-reflective coatings on their legs and bodies that can dampen the reflection of light by 250-fold in some cases and prevent it from bouncing back to a hungry lantern fish's eye.
Weirder still, these coatings appear to be made of living bacteria.
When viewed under an electron microscope, the optical coating appears as a sheet of fairly uniform beads, smaller than the wavelength of light. "This coating of little spheres reduces reflections the same way putting a shag carpet on the walls of a recording studio would soften echoes," said study leader Laura Bagge, a Ph.D. candidate at Duke working with biologist Sönke Johnsen.
- Science Daily
Inevitably they ask why should this happen and they don't know yet. Such an extraordinary level of symbiosis in which one won't survive without the other will likely draw them for further study for some while.
Maybe this approach can be used for your Invisible Man suit. It won't be fully stealthy since you will still be detectable by other means but the lack of reflection would be so perfect for cat burglars; it would almost take the romance out of it ... not that much remains when they just crash into hotel rooms with guns. How gauche. No real cat burglar would ever do that. It's not sexy at all.
Maybe there's a legitimate use for such a material but I'll leave it to your demented minds to find it.
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