There was a fresh breeze, and every part of the surface, which during the day is seen as foam, now glowed with a pale light. While sailing in these latitudes on one very dark night, the sea presented a wonderful and most beautiful spectacle. Ĭharles Darwin noticed bioluminescence in the sea, describing it in his Journal: Under the microscope he described the "luminous property" to be in the brain, resembling "a most brilliant amethyst about the size of a large pin's head". He mentions pellucids, crustaceans (to which he ascribes the milky whiteness of the water), and cancers (shrimps and crabs). Tuckey, in his posthumous 1818 Narrative of the Expedition to the Zaire, described catching the animals responsible for luminescence. Baker identified the flagellate Noctiluca "as a luminous animal" "just visible to the naked eye", and in 1854 Johann Florian Heller (1813–1871) identified strands ( hyphae) of fungi as the source of light in dead wood. He also records that Robert Boyle experimented on these light sources, and showed that both they and the glowworm require air for light to be produced. Harvey notes that Aristotle mentions light produced by dead fish and flesh, and that both Aristotle and Pliny the Elder (in his Natural History) mention light from damp wood. Newton Harvey published a monograph, The Nature of Animal Light, summarizing early work on bioluminescence. Another safe source of illumination in mines was bottles containing fireflies. This experimental form of illumination avoided the necessity of using candles which risked sparking explosions of firedamp. History īefore the development of the safety lamp for use in coal mines, dried fish skins were used in Britain and Europe as a weak source of light. Researchers are also investigating the possibility of using bioluminescent systems for street and decorative lighting, and a bioluminescent plant has been created. In the laboratory, luciferase-based systems are used in genetic engineering and biomedical research. The uses of bioluminescence by animals include counterillumination camouflage, mimicry of other animals, for example to lure prey, and signaling to other individuals of the same species, such as to attract mates.
On land it occurs in fungi, bacteria and some groups of invertebrates, including insects. The phenomenon is widely distributed among animal groups, especially in marine environments. It was not until the late nineteenth century that bioluminescence was properly investigated. Many centuries later Robert Boyle showed that oxygen was involved in the process, in both wood and glowworms. Conversely, luciferases vary widely between different species, which is evidence that bioluminescence has arisen over 40 times in evolutionary history.īoth Aristotle and Pliny the Elder mentioned that damp wood sometimes gives off a glow.
In evolution, luciferins vary little: one in particular, coelenterazine, is found in 11 different animal phyla, though in some of these, the animals obtain it through their diet. In some species, the luciferase requires other cofactors, such as calcium or magnesium ions, and sometimes also the energy-carrying molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
In all characterized cases, the enzyme catalyzes the oxidation of the luciferin. Because these are generic names, luciferins and luciferases are often distinguished by the species or group, e.g. In a general sense, the principal chemical reaction in bioluminescence involves a light-emitting molecule and an enzyme, generally called luciferin and luciferase, respectively. In some animals, the light is bacteriogenic, produced by symbiotic bacteria such as those from the genus Vibrio in others, it is autogenic, produced by the animals themselves. Bioluminescence occurs widely in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms including some bioluminescent bacteria, and terrestrial arthropods such as fireflies. Video of a bioluminescent beetle Elateroideaīioluminescence is the production and emission of light by living organisms. The female of this species is a larviform and has no wings, unlike the male. Not to be confused with Iridescence, Structural coloration, or Phosphorescence.įlying and glowing firefly, Photinus pyralis Female glowworm, Lampyris noctiluca Male and female of the species Lampyris noctiluca mating.
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