The Effect Of Bioluminescence On Oceanic Life And Terrestrial Creatures

The ocean floor is a very dark and is filled with algae however, crabs that live here can still easily catch and eat plankton. Scientists are wondering, is it the crab’s other senses doing the job or is it just there sight? On the ocean floor not much light gets in which leads everyone to think that the crabs can't see however, some light does reach the crabs and the plankton the crabs eat. Most visible light does not reach the ocean floor in normal conditions except yellow light and green light. Since the plankton reflects all visible light the plankton would appear yellowish green to the crab’s eyes. Even though the green and yellow light reaches the floor in normal conditions the area where the crabs live is packed with algae. According to evidence cards F and G algae reflects green light but all the other colors of visible light are absorbed with algae. This states that only green light has a large chance of making it to the bottom so the crabs can see the plankton.

The purpose of this experiment was to observe the light that the Tomopteris emits. They collected Tomopteris from Monterey Bay off the coast of California. They then stimulated the Tomopteris to produce light so that they could observe the light that it produced. The researchers took photos and measured the amount of light that was emitted per Tomopteris. One interesting discovery was a Tomopteris that emits a blue light which is rare since most Tomopteris emit a yellow-orange light. The researchers tried to create explanations as to why this Tomopteris emits blue light. They think that “different protein complements may be responsible for the light in different species”. However, this isn’t their only explanation for this rare blue emitting Tomopteris. The other explanation is that “this could potentially reflect different ecological roles of the two light colors”. Researchers concluded that with further testing the blue-light emitting Tomopteris may be considered a species of their own.

Referring to the experiment`s hypotheses that the A. franciscana prefers light, temperatures between 20-24 ̊ C, and a basic (pH 8) environment; the results regarding the first treatment, light, were initially vague. According to the experiment results, the A. franciscana did not show a clear preference towards light or dark because both sections contained high concentrations of them; the A. franciscana also strayed from the uncovered section. Several factors may shed light on the results such as the A. franciscanas physical appearance; they possess three light-sensitive eyes that can adjust to both low and high light intensities (Fox, 2001). This means that although they may prefer light they can survive in darker habitats as well; relating back to the experiment the A. franciscana may have been content with wherever they were, resulting in limited movement.

Daphnia is an order of cladoceran that are a part of the genus of small crustaceans ranging from one to five millimeters in length (Campbell, 2004; Corroto 2010). Daphnia are also naturally transparent, allowing for a variety of research opportunities that are observable with current day technology. Water fleas are another name for Daphnia due to their distinct, jerky swimming patterns (Chin, 2011; Campbell, 2004). Additionally, Daphnia seem to have tufts of hair, relatively large eyes, and red “lips”. Daphnia also feature an ocellus, a light-sensing organ under the compound eye (Chin, 2011; Corotto, 2010).

The closest to the surface is the epipelagic subzone stretches to about 200m. This zone has enough sunlight and nutrients for bigger marine creatures like tuna, sharks, giant jellyfish and predator fishes. The second subzone, the mesopelagic, also known as the twilight zone, with the depth of 200m to 1000m; this zone has barely sunlight. The insufficient of sunlight prohibits organisms to perform photosynthesis in the twilight zone. Surviving in the twilight zone is about seeing and not being seen. These organisms need to be able to see their prey, but they should not be spotted by their predators. The next subzone is the bathypelagic ranging from 1000 to 4000 m, containing bioluminescent marine organisms which create light, like hatchet fish and squid. Below 150m, photosynthesis is impossible; hence there are only animals and no plants in this region and below. The animals living in the bathypelagic zone solely rely on detritus for food or on eating other animals. At this depth and pressure, the animals most commonly found are fish, mollusks, crustaceans, and jellyfish.Red, black and bioluminescent animals in this appear as completely black to others since there is very little to no light penetration at this depth. Following the bathypelagic is the abyssopelagic zone, locating with the depth of 4,000m, it is

      The anglerfish developed a relationship with a certain type of bacteria that can glow. That bacteria is in them but it stays in their esca. This is a good thing because that makes them be able to light their esca so that they can draw prey in and eat them. Also when they light their esca you can not see them at all you only see a light and that is why the prey does not think any thing is wrong and goes up to the esca.

The tapetum lucidum is an evolutionary advantage for animals. It enables animals to see in dimmer light than the animal would otherwise be able to see in. The tapetum lucidum is useful to animals, but it also has a use to humans. Human beings use the tapetum lucidum to scan for reflected eye-shine, in order to detect and identify the species of animals in the dark and to send trained search dogs and search horses out at night. Historically, its function was regarded as simply to increase the light intensity of an image on the retina. Using eye shine to identify animals in the dark implies not only color but, also several other features. The color reciprocates to the type of tapetum

Vampire squids can use bioluminescent bacteria to protect itself from predators by confusing them with lights shining in different direction so they are unable to locate where the creature is exactly. These bioluminescence can also be used to see slightly better in the very dark or locate other of its kind to communicate with. Some other animal with unique defense methods include armadillos, which roll up into a ball protecting themselves with their hard outside, or even skunks, that will spray any predators with noxious musk to defend themselves.

The researchers focused their study on determining whether cuttlefish adjust their body pattern intensity with reference to artificial and natural substrate intensity under different light conditions of bright light, moderate light, low light, and extremely low light. For each set of experiments, 10 adult Sepia officinalis were confined with an artificial or natural substrate placed the floor and walls of a seawater-filled tank and was left to get accustomed to low light for 20 minutes. After those 20 minutes, a photo was taken using a flash, digital camera. The cuttlefish is then left to adapt in a set light condition with the same substrate for another 20 minutes. Following the 20 minutes, the light is turned off and a flash photo was

Red algae are the known photosynthetic organisms that live deepest in the sea (as deep as 600 feet). Why do they have a red color when we observe them under sunlight? Red algae is red because all of the blu photons aree bounced back/passed through. (8:05:54 PM) 4.

Furthermore, there are aquatic organisms such as the mantis shrimp that has an estimated 12-16 photoreceptor cells. In the presence of the 750 nm wavelength of light that humans cone cells aren’t sensitive enough to signal an observation, the mantis shrimps red cone cells are sensitive to this wavelength of light and can absorb the wavelengths to send a response to their brain. In the presence of UV-B (290-320 nm) wavelengths, humans blue cone cells aren’t sensitive enough or able to absorb enough of the light to signal a response to their brain. Whereas the Mantis Shrimp has various photo receptors that are sensitive to these

Many types of animals have the right genes and proteins in them to produce the “glow-in-the-dark” skin. Most of the animals that have the protein are marine animals but other animals, even cats have been found with the protein.

Photosynthesis of marine marcoalgaes split into 2 processes; light reaction (photochemical reaction which is affected by concentration of the chlorophyll and irradiance) and the dark reaction (chemical process, where temperature and concentration of the substrate influence on). However between those two reactions, there is an intermediates metabolic process, where NADPH and ATP are produced. The amount of produced NADPH and ATP depends upon light limitation, which later results of dark reaction sufficiency. In photosynthesis pigments function is to absorb the light energy as photons. They are localized in the light –harvesting antenna protein – pigment (LHC) in thylakoid membraines of the chloroplast. (Dring, 1992) Bladders wrack contain wide

Today I read an article on bioluminescence. Bioluminescence occurs when two types of chemicals come together to create a chemical reaction. Luciferin and either luciferase or photoprotein come together with oxygen it combines to form a different chemical that shows off the light. Bioluminescence can be found mostly in marine life, for example fish, bacteria, and jelly. It can be found on land in fireflies, fungi and railroad worm. Bioluminescence has been adapted to ade in many different task from mating, hunt prey, defending from predators and more! In the article it talked about how humans could use bioluminescence in everyday life as a safer alternative to light.

The first thing to note is luminescence is a generalized term describing the production of visual light with a lack of radiant heat termed “cold light”. Three main categories describe the types of luminescence (please refer to Table 1); biological, chemical and physical. Bioluminescence is another broad term defining any form of luminescence produced by organisms, predominantly seen in marine species. This phenomena is seen in some species of cephalopods of the Tesuthida (squid) order and many of the members of the