How some animals use light to help them survive.
Bio luminescence is used by many glowing animals to help them stay alive. Below are some examples of ways they use glowing to get food and avoid being eaten.
1:Feeding
Animals can use their light to lure food towards their mouth, or even to light up the area nearby so that they can see the next meal a bit better. Sometimes the prey being lured can be small plankton, like those attracted to the bioluminescence around the beak of the octopus.(1)
Glow Worms are found in New Zealand and can hang by the thousands in the 30 million year old Waitomo caves. They lure prey such as flies and millipedes into what appear to be long lighting fishlines.(2)
2:Protection
Often animals use a strong flash of bioluminescence to scare off an impending predator. The bright signal can distract the predator and cause confusion about the whereabouts of the target.(3) Some animals use counterillumination to disappear because their color blends with the light coming from above.(2) This fish is using counter illumination to disappear.
This fish is using counter illumination to disappear.
To see cool videos click on the following link.https://www.youtube.com/results?
1:https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/fish/bioluminescence
2:https://scoutlife.org/features/139550/let-it-glow-a-look-at-naturally-glowing-plants-and-animals/
3https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/fish/luminescence#:~:text=Animals%20can%20use%20their%20light,beak%20of%20the%20Stauroteuthis%20octopus%20.
what are some examples of the animals?
Hi Joseph,
Your research topic is very interesting! Perhaps you can talk more about the environment these animals live in. Why do they need bioluminescence? How did this trait develop in these creatures?
Here are a couple of sources:
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/bioluminescence/
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/biolum.html
Looking forward to reading your future posts!:)
Rasee
Hey Joseph, cool post! The topic you have chosen is quite new to me, so I really enjoyed reading through it and absorbing all of the information for the first time. To be honest, I didn’t even know that animals that have the ability to glow ever used that ability to reach means other than lighting their path and making it easier for them to see. I had no clue that glowing animals could use their light source to attract prey or scare away/hide from predators. Interesting stuff!
Some resources you may find useful are:
https://www.livescience.com/19318-bioluminescent-light-organisms.html
https://thedishonscience.stanford.edu/posts/bioluminescence/
https://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2019/08/06/animals-glow-bioluminescence/
https://www.thoughtco.com/amazing-bioluminescent-organisms-373898
https://www.britannica.com/science/marine-bioluminescence
Hi Joseph,
Very interesting post! I never knew that animals could use light as a source of protection, great job!
I really like how you gave examples of the subjects that you were writing about, this can help guide the reader’s understanding!
A few sources that might help you:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2257008-tardigrades-survive-deadly-radiation-by-glowing-in-the-dark/#:~:text=A%20tiny%20tardigrade%20can%20survive,animals%20around%201%20millimetre%20long.
https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/fish/bioluminescence
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/bioluminescence-animals-ocean-glowing
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/ever-wondered-about-animals-that-glow-in-the-dark/2016/10/17/ee8bcfde-9248-11e6-9c85-ac42097b8cc0_story.html
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-bioluminescent-creatures-are-transforming-medical-science-180973690/