Everything's Illuminated: deep-sea bioluminescence
Little light penetrates down into the deep sea. But here in the dark abyss, there exists a living light show — one created by the glow of the deep-sea animals themselves. Discover the who, what, why, and how of deep-sea bioluminescence.
10 items
Liebig Chromos. Trade card. Series 1360, The sea down to 900 metres, no 6, at 923m deep. 1937. Private collection Paul MR Maeyaert. 11 x 7,1cm.
Lettering: Phosporescent animals. 1. Firefly (Pyrophorus noctilucus). 2. Phosporescent jelly fish ( Pelagia noctiluca). 3. Pyrosoma elegans, ... Dr. Etzold.
Lettering: N.H.27. Echinodermata, entozoa, infusoria, mollusca. Acalepha, annelida, and phosphorescent animals. XXXVI. Drawn by Captn. Brown. Engd. by R. Scott Edin.r.
Liebig Chromos. Trade card. Series 1360, The sea down to 900 metres, no 5, at 800m deep. 1937. Private collection Paul MR Maeyaert. 11 x 7,1cm.
Liebig Chromos. Trade card. Series 1360, The sea down to 900 metres, no 3, at 350m deep. 1937. Private collection Paul MR Maeyaert. 11 x 7,1cm.
Liebig Chromos. Trade card. Series 1360, The sea down to 900 metres, no 4, at 600m deep. 1937. Private collection Paul MR Maeyaert. 11 x 7,1cm.
Liebig Chromos. Trade card. Series 1360, The sea down to 900 metres, no 2, at 240m deep. 1937. Private collection Paul MR Maeyaert. 11 x 7,1cm.
Hawaiian bobtail squid are nocturnal predators, remaining buried under the sand during the day and coming out to hunt for shrimp at night near coral reefs. The squid have a light organ on their underside that houses a colony of glowing bacteria (Vibrio fi…