Greetings And Salutations! You Seem Very Cool/interesting/friendly! (I Found Your Intro Post When Looking

Greetings and salutations! You seem very cool/interesting/friendly! (I found your intro post when looking through the marine biology tag (I know nothing about marine biology but find it immensely fascinating)

Tell me about bioluminescence :)

omggg hiiii i literally just made my account today, i didn’t think anyone would actually see it!! u seem rly cool too 😊

i am waaaay too into bioluminescence, mainly marine bioluminescence bc it’s cool 🙃 76% of discovered deep sea creatures use bioluminescence! so basically, the light is produced from a chemical reaction from luciferin and oxygen:

luciferin (C11H8N2O3S2) + oxygen (O) —> light and oxyluciferin (by-product)

and organisms either have an enzyme called luciferase, which catalyzes the reaction, or photoproteins, that allow the reaction to occur. the reaction occurs in the cells of an organism (or cell if it’s only a single-celled organism)

some animals, like firefly squid, have photophores, which are like tiny bioluminescent dots along their body. they are the brightest type of bioluminescence and are sometimes complex enough to be able to detect light levels so the animal can control how bright the light they produce is. they are tiny glands/organs that have the necessary chemicals to produce light.

some animals, like hawaiian bobtail squid, have a symbiotic relationship with bioluminescent bacteria.

like the angler fish has bioluminescent bacteria living in its esca (glowing bulb thing)

and some animals just eat bioluminescent organisms and that makes them glow.

bioluminescence underwater is usually blue bc it travels furthest in water.

some animals use it to lure prey to them, such as dragonfish, who has transparent teeth so it doesn’t reflect light off them and give them away. some animals also use it for defence to confuse predators, like the pandalid shrimp just vomits bioluminescent mucus at predators, and vampire squid will do the same thing but only in a life-or-death situation bc it uses a lot of their energy. it is also used to attract mates in a few species.

bioluminescence is also used for camouflage, so that predators below can’t see the silhouette of prey above it because they match their bioluminescence to the sunlight’s brightness. it’s kinda hard to explain but it’s called counterillumination

the coolest bioluminescent organisms are vampire squid, glass octopuses, pyrosomas, helmet jellyfishes, cockatoo squid, and siphophore colonies

anywayyyy i hope you liked my very very long yap and you learned something!!! and thank you soooo much for following me and sending me a message 😊😊😊😊