We present a study of dense structures in the L 1495 filament in the Taurus Molecular Cloud and examine its star-forming properties .
In particular we construct a dust extinction map of the filament using deep near-infrared observations , exposing its small-scale structure in unprecedented detail .
The filament shows highly fragmented substructures and a high mass-per-length value of M _ { \mathrm { line } } = 17 \mathrm { \mathrm { M } _ { \odot } pc ^ { -1 } } , reflecting star-forming potential in all parts of it .
However , a part of the filament , namely B 211 , is remarkably devoid of young stellar objects .
We argue that in this region the initial filament collapse and fragmentation is still taking place and star formation is yet to occur .
In the star-forming part of the filament , we identify 39 cores with masses from 0.4 \ldots 10 \mathrm { \mathrm { M } _ { \odot } } and preferred separations in agreement with the local Jeans length .
Most of these cores exceed the Bonnor-Ebert critical mass , and are therefore likely to collapse and form stars .
The Dense Core Mass Function follows a power law with exponent \Gamma = 1.2 \pm 0.2 , a form commonly observed in star-forming regions .