* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Sunday, July 27, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Top 5 entertainment news: Sandeep Reddy Vanga regrets trimming Animal’s runtime by 7-8 minutes, Akshay Ku – Times of India

    Top 5 Entertainment Highlights: Sandeep Reddy Vanga Reveals Why He Trimmed Animal’s Runtime by 7-8 Minutes, Plus Akshay Ku Updates

    Cote de Pablo reveals how Michael Weatherly used his soap opera roots to put her at ease in “NCIS” love scene – yahoo.com

    Cote de Pablo Reveals How Michael Weatherly’s Soap Opera Background Made Their “NCIS” Love Scene Easier

    City of Pelham announces entertainment district plans for former Oak Mountain Amphitheatre site – WVTM

    Pelham Unveils Exciting New Entertainment District Plans for Former Oak Mountain Amphitheatre Site

    Black Box Players presents ‘The Three Musketeers’ – CBS 19 News

    Experience the Adventure: Black Box Players Bring ‘The Three Musketeers’ to Life!

    AP Entertainment SummaryBrief at 1:51 p.m. EDT – Channel 3000

    Entertainment Highlights: Key Updates You Can’t Miss

    ‘Devil Wears Prada 2’ casts Anne Hathaway’s love interest replacing Adrian Grenier’s Nate – Entertainment Weekly

    Devil Wears Prada 2′ Casts New Love Interest for Anne Hathaway, Replacing Adrian Grenier’s Nate

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology

    Eagle Unveils Revolutionary X-Ray Technology at Pack Expo

    Validea’s Top Information Technology Stocks Based On Peter Lynch – 7/25/2025 – Nasdaq

    Validea’s Top Information Technology Stocks Based On Peter Lynch – 7/25/2025 – Nasdaq

    WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

    WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

    Google Cloud Announced as a Key Technology Partner for Odoo Connect 2025 in San Francisco – GlobeNewswire

    Google Cloud Announced as a Key Technology Partner for Odoo Connect 2025 in San Francisco – GlobeNewswire

    Behind the Screens: The Impact of Technology on Real Estate – TRREB

    Behind the Screens: How Technology is Transforming the Future of Real Estate

    Sustainserv and Palau Announce Technology Partnership to Leverage Innovative AI Platform to Advance Sustainability Reporting – Business Wire

    Sustainserv and Palau Team Up to Transform Sustainability Reporting with Breakthrough AI Technology

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Top 5 entertainment news: Sandeep Reddy Vanga regrets trimming Animal’s runtime by 7-8 minutes, Akshay Ku – Times of India

    Top 5 Entertainment Highlights: Sandeep Reddy Vanga Reveals Why He Trimmed Animal’s Runtime by 7-8 Minutes, Plus Akshay Ku Updates

    Cote de Pablo reveals how Michael Weatherly used his soap opera roots to put her at ease in “NCIS” love scene – yahoo.com

    Cote de Pablo Reveals How Michael Weatherly’s Soap Opera Background Made Their “NCIS” Love Scene Easier

    City of Pelham announces entertainment district plans for former Oak Mountain Amphitheatre site – WVTM

    Pelham Unveils Exciting New Entertainment District Plans for Former Oak Mountain Amphitheatre Site

    Black Box Players presents ‘The Three Musketeers’ – CBS 19 News

    Experience the Adventure: Black Box Players Bring ‘The Three Musketeers’ to Life!

    AP Entertainment SummaryBrief at 1:51 p.m. EDT – Channel 3000

    Entertainment Highlights: Key Updates You Can’t Miss

    ‘Devil Wears Prada 2’ casts Anne Hathaway’s love interest replacing Adrian Grenier’s Nate – Entertainment Weekly

    Devil Wears Prada 2′ Casts New Love Interest for Anne Hathaway, Replacing Adrian Grenier’s Nate

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology

    Eagle Unveils Revolutionary X-Ray Technology at Pack Expo

    Validea’s Top Information Technology Stocks Based On Peter Lynch – 7/25/2025 – Nasdaq

    Validea’s Top Information Technology Stocks Based On Peter Lynch – 7/25/2025 – Nasdaq

    WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

    WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

    Google Cloud Announced as a Key Technology Partner for Odoo Connect 2025 in San Francisco – GlobeNewswire

    Google Cloud Announced as a Key Technology Partner for Odoo Connect 2025 in San Francisco – GlobeNewswire

    Behind the Screens: The Impact of Technology on Real Estate – TRREB

    Behind the Screens: How Technology is Transforming the Future of Real Estate

    Sustainserv and Palau Announce Technology Partnership to Leverage Innovative AI Platform to Advance Sustainability Reporting – Business Wire

    Sustainserv and Palau Team Up to Transform Sustainability Reporting with Breakthrough AI Technology

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

From Glowing Corals To Vomiting Shrimp, Bioluminescence Has Appeared For Millions of Years

June 20, 2024
in Science
From Glowing Corals To Vomiting Shrimp, Bioluminescence Has Appeared For Millions of Years
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Humans have long been fascinated by organisms that can produce light. Aristotle, who was a scientist as well as a philosopher, wrote the first detailed descriptions of what he called “cold light” more than 2,000 years ago. More recently, pioneering researchers like World War II Army veteran Emmett Chappelle and deep submergence vehicle pilot Edith Widder advanced the study of this phenomenon with novel technologies.

At least 94 living organisms produce their own light through a chemical reaction inside their bodies – an ability called bioluminescence. Examples include luminous fireflies, algae that create “glow-in-the-dark” bays, small crustaceans with intricate courtship displays, and deep-sea fish and coral. Yet despite its widespread occurrence, scientists don’t yet know when or where it first emerged, or its original function.

As marine biologists who specialize in deep-sea habitats, we know that bioluminescence is particularly common in the ocean. This indicates that light production may give organisms from across the tree of life a fitness advantage that improves their chances of survival.

Our research focuses on octocorals – soft-bodied corals such as sea fans that have treelike shapes and are found in various places in the world’s oceans. They are a diverse and ancient group of animals that includes some 3,500 species, many of which are bioluminescent.

The colonial false gold coral Savalia displaying bioluminescence in the Caribbean in 2009. Sönke Johnsen, CC BY-ND

Octocorals can create coral gardens and animal forests in the oceans, particularly in the deep sea. These communities provide homes and nursery habitats for many other animals, including fish and sharks.

All octocorals use the same chemical reaction to bioluminesce. A 2022 study determined the evolutionary relationships among these corals. These genetic connections, and the fact that fossils of octocorals exist, make these animals an ideal focus to investigate when bioluminescence appeared and how it spread across geological time.

Testing For Bioluminescence At Sea

Over a decade ago, we started testing the ability of different octocoral species to bioluminesce. To produce the glowing light, corals must be stimulated either physically or chemically.

Bioluminescence first piqued our curiosity during a 2014 research cruise on the R/V Celtic Explorer over the Whittard Canyon off the southwest coast of Ireland. We were taking a tissue sample of a bamboo coral collected from the deep seafloor by a remotely operated vehicle.

The vehicle had manipulator arms that allowed the pilot to collect coral specimens and place them in sampling containers to keep the organisms alive and protected as the vehicle surfaced. After this sample came onboard the ship, we used forceps to take a single coral polyp from it in a room with low lighting and saw a flash of blue light.

Since then, we have worked with collaborators from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and Tohoku University to record what species are able to glow, either on the ship after collection or as we observe them on the seafloor using low-light cameras. Combined with previous published records, we now know that bioluminescence occurs in approximately 60 coral species. It’s likely that many more await discovery.

For animals that live in dark deep-sea waters, light is an effective way to communicate.

When and Why Bioluminescence Emerged

In a study published in April 2024, we presented the oldest record in geological time for bioluminescence on Earth. We showed that this chemical reaction evolved several millennia earlier than the previous estimate, around the time that life on Earth rapidly diversified over 540 million years ago in a period called the Cambrian Explosion. We determined this by mapping the presence of bioluminescence onto the octocoral tree of life, a graphic tool that biologists use to show evolutionary relationships among species.

Initially, bioluminescence may have evolved to reduce free radicals– chemically unstable atoms that can damage cells. However, at some point, it evolved into a form of communication.

Our results indicate that light signaling was the earliest form of communication in the oceans, and we know that some animals that could detect light evolved during the Cambrian period. Our research indicates that interactions involving light occurred among species during a time when animals were rapidly diversifying and occupying new habitats.

Bioluminescence emerged around the time of the Cambrian Explosion, the most intense burst of evolution on record.

Gaining and Losing Light

We are continuing to test corals for bioluminescent abilities in a variety of ways. One main component involved in producing light in corals and other animals is an enzyme called luciferase. Using DNA sequence data, we are developing a test for the genetic potential to bioluminesce that will make it easier and less invasive for us to study this trait.

We have preliminary evidence that non-bioluminescent octocorals still have homologous luciferase genes– genetic instructions that were passed down from a common ancestor of all octocorals. Why corals that can’t produce light have retained these genes is a mystery.

Do they produce very low-level light that scientists can’t detect with current methods? Or are their luciferase genes nonfunctional? Further study may show why certain octocorals appear to have lost the ability to bioluminesce and how this loss may have affected their survival in different habitats.

Our recent results show that many corals that live in shallow waters but arose from deep-water ancestors retained the ability to bioluminesce. It is possible that some corals lost this ability over time as it became less useful in shallower ocean settings with more light.

We also are investigating how bioluminescence has evolved in other creatures, including shrimp that migrate upward from deep waters to feed in the daytime and return to deep waters at night. These animals are exposed to changing light conditions and produce light in multiple, unique ways.

As one notable example, some shrimp vomit light-making chemicals, creating a luminescent spew to fend off predators. They also have external bioluminescent light organs along their body that produce blue light.

Studying creatures like these improves our understanding of how different amounts of light in the environment, including light produced by organisms, affect the evolution of bioluminescence and influence organisms’ vision. This can provide insight into how bioluminescence affected eye evolution and vision some 540 million years ago, when life on Earth was diversifying.

The fact that corals have been able to produce light for hundreds of millions of years implies that this ability has contributed significantly to their survival. Furthermore, our findings support the idea that bioluminescence has been a critical form of communication through geologic time for many types of animals, particularly in the deep sea.

This research has sparked new ideas for us about early animal evolution and communication. Light signaling gave animals a new way to communicate in a rapidly changing time, when new predators and a more complex landscape were emerging. Increased sensory capabilities in the ocean could have been valuable in these conditions. Perhaps bioluminescence is a missing piece of the puzzle that has not yet received full attention in studies of the origin and evolution of animals in deep time.

Danielle DeLeo is a Postdoctoral Associate in Biological Sciences at Florida International University. Andrea Quattrini is a Research Zoologist and Curator of Corals at the Smithsonian Institution. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Discover Magazine – https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/from-glowing-corals-to-vomiting-shrimp-bioluminescence-has-appeared-for

Tags: Coralsglowingscience
Previous Post

Measuring and modeling the dynamics of mitotic error correction

Next Post

Prehistoric Rock Art Lies Hidden Throughout the Grand Canyon

Katie Ledecky, Summer McIntosh and a race for the ages at World Swimming Championships – NBC Sports

Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh Ignite an Epic Showdown at the World Swimming Championships

July 27, 2025
5 ways Trump has shaped the economy in 6 months – The Hill

5 Game-Changing Ways Trump Transformed the Economy in Just 6 Months

July 27, 2025
Flutter Entertainment Announces Pricing Of $1.272 Bln Of Additional Senior Secured Notes Due 2031 – Nasdaq

Flutter Entertainment Raises $1.27 Billion in Major Senior Secured Notes Offering Due 2031

July 27, 2025
KFF Health Tracking Poll: Public Views on Recent Tax and Budget Legislation – KFF

How the Public Really Feels About the Latest Tax and Budget Changes

July 27, 2025
Dollar falls against yen as markets weigh new trade deal, Japanese politics – Reuters

Dollar falls against yen as markets weigh new trade deal, Japanese politics – Reuters

July 27, 2025
Clinch County Schools prepare for students’ return with new policies, technology – WALB

Clinch County Schools Prepare for Students’ Return with Exciting New Policies and Cutting-Edge Technology

July 27, 2025
Highlights: Xfinity Series at Indy on The CW – NBC Sports

Unforgettable Thrills Ignite the Xfinity Series at Indy

July 27, 2025
Yellowstone aspen showing signs of recovery following 1995 reintroduction of wolves to park – Oregon State University

Yellowstone Aspen Thriving Again Years After Wolves Were Reintroduced

July 26, 2025
CMC trustees approve new biological science bachelor’s degree – KUNC

CMC Trustees Approve Exciting New Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences

July 26, 2025
By cutting science, the Defense Department is eating its seed corn – Defense News

Cutting Science Funding: How the Defense Department Is Jeopardizing Tomorrow’s Innovation

July 26, 2025

Categories

Archives

July 2025
MTWTFSS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 
« Jun    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (740)
  • Economy (765)
  • Entertainment (21,645)
  • General (16,129)
  • Health (9,803)
  • Lifestyle (772)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (766)
  • Politics (774)
  • Science (15,979)
  • Sports (21,262)
  • Technology (15,746)
  • World (748)

Recent News

Katie Ledecky, Summer McIntosh and a race for the ages at World Swimming Championships – NBC Sports

Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh Ignite an Epic Showdown at the World Swimming Championships

July 27, 2025
5 ways Trump has shaped the economy in 6 months – The Hill

5 Game-Changing Ways Trump Transformed the Economy in Just 6 Months

July 27, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version