![]() ![]() ![]() There’s isn’t the selection pressure on land that there is in the ocean to develop bioluminescence.Į360: There are some really strange creatures down there. But it’s really rare on land because there are plenty of hiding places. A few have it, like fireflies and a few earthworms, centipedes. Į360: That would also account for the fact that bioluminescence is more common in the ocean than it is on the dry land? These fish are using their bioluminescence for camouflage. A lot of animals produce bioluminescence from their bellies that exactly matches the color and intensity of the sunlight above them. Animals have to figure out how to hide in a place without hiding places. But the ocean is so different from the terrestrial realm because there are no trees or bushes to hide behind. Widder: A huge part - 99.5 percent or more of the living space on the planet is the ocean. Is the ability to produce light a big part of that success? If something is attacking them, they make this light that will attract larger predators that will attack their attacker.Į360: You write that bioluminescent fish are the most successful vertebrates on the planet. But for others, it can signal, “Don’t eat me or you’ll be sorry because I’ll sting you” or “I’m poisonous.” Some dinoflagellates use an especially bright light as a burglar alarm where it’s a scream for help with light. Widder: There are a lot of animals that release their luminescent chemicals into the water to distract a predator. ![]() I just was completely unprepared for how much there was, for this fireworks display that surrounded me and was set off by any movement.Į360: Why do so many bioluminescent creatures light up when you bump into them? Widder: Well, I knew there would be bioluminescence. I do think that my experience of being blind helped me when I was trying to think about what life must be like for animals in that world of so much darkness with just occasional flashes of light, which is what my world was like for a while.Į360: The deep sea is sometimes referred to as a world of eternal darkness, but when you made your first deep dive, you write that it was like the Fourth of July down there. Does your professional interest in light stem in any way from that experience?Įdith Widder: There’s no question that vision becomes so precious when you’re deprived of it. Yale Environment 360: You almost died after surgery when you were a freshman in college. Those of us that have been in submersibles and seen … these gorgeous undersea gardens filled with bioluminescent corals that have just been turned into rubble, it’s gut-wrenching.” In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Widder - author of the recently published book Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir of Exploring Light and Life in the Deep Sea - talks about the surprising strategies that bioluminescent creatures employ to survive in a world without light, explains why deep-sea research remains woefully underfunded, and laments that with the advent of deep-sea fishing, mining and oil drilling, “we’re exploiting the ocean before we even know what’s in it. Among other things, Widder has worked with engineers to develop highly sensitive deep-sea light meters and special cameras, like the remotely operated Eye-in-the-Sea, which allow for real-time monitoring of the seafloor. ![]() One of the leaders in this exploration is marine biologist Edith Widder, who has extensively studied bioluminescent, or light-producing, organisms that use this trait to communicate, defend themselves, and hunt in darkness. But advances in submersible technology are increasingly giving scientists a window into this little-known universe. Until recently, the depths of the world’s oceans remained almost entirely unexplored. ![]()
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