The snaggletooth, belonging to the genus Astronesthes, is a deep-sea predatory fish known for its menacing, fang-like teeth and bioluminescent organs. These fish inhabit the mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones of tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide. While not a major target of commercial fisheries due to their small size and deep habitat, snaggletooths are occasionally caught as bycatch in deep-sea trawling operations. The countries most likely to encounter and harvest snaggletooth species are those with significant deep-sea fishing fleets, such as Japan, Spain, Russia, and New Zealand. These nations operate in international waters and the deep slopes of continental shelves, where snaggletooth and other deep-sea species are sometimes collected for scientific research, fish meal, or as incidental catch alongside more commercially valuable species like grenadiers and deep-sea cods. The overall economic impact of snaggletooth fishing is minor, but their presence highlights the biodiversity of deep-sea ecosystems exploited by advanced fishing nations.
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Data from FAO. 2025. Global Capture Production. In: Fisheries and Aquaculture.