The production of visible light by a living organism through a chemical reaction, most often between a light-emitting molecule called luciferin and an enzyme, luciferase, that catalyzes its oxidation. It has evolved independently many times across very different groups of organisms, on land in fireflies, which use flash patterns to attract mates, and much more widely in the ocean, where the majority of species living below the sunlit surface layer are bioluminescent in some form, from single-celled dinoflagellates that flash when disturbed by a wave or a swimming animal to deep-sea anglerfish that dangle a lit lure to attract prey in total darkness. The reaction is remarkably efficient, converting nearly all of the energy released into light rather than heat, unlike an incandescent bulb.
Facts
PeriodicityNot periodic in a fixed sense: light production is triggered on demand by disturbance, follows day and night cycles in some species, or runs continuously in others, such as many deep sea organisms. 1 ScaleOrganismal and cellular, generated by individual light organs or bacteria, though in some marine environments the combined effect is visible across a whole bay. 1 First DescribedRaphael Dubois identified the luciferin-luciferase chemical reaction behind bioluminescence in 1887, using click beetles and a boring clam, establishing the general mechanism most bioluminescent organisms are now understood to use some variant of. 1 Connections
Associated With
Firefly synchronization is fundamentally a bioluminescent phenomenon: fireflies flash in unison using the same light-producing biochemical reaction that defines bioluminescence generally, synchronized as a mating signal.
Source Bioluminescence (Wikipedia)
Source Bioluminescence (Wikipedia)
Source Bioluminescence (Wikipedia)
Demonstrated By
NOAA states 80 percent of the animals that live between 200 and 1,000 meters depth are bioluminescent.
Source Bioluminescence (NOAA Ocean Exploration)
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Bioluminescence (Wikipedia)
Lead section
Bioluminescence is the production of light by an organism as the result of a chemiluminescence reaction.
Chemical mechanism section
In most cases, the principal chemical reaction in bioluminescence involves the reaction of a substrate called luciferin and an enzyme, called luciferase.
Distribution section, dinoflagellate sentence
The most frequently encountered bioluminescent organisms may be the dinoflagellates in the surface layers of the sea.
Distribution section, deep-sea share sentence
In marine coastal habitats, about 2.5% of organisms are estimated to be bioluminescent, whereas in pelagic habitats in the eastern Pacific, about 76% of the main taxa of deep-sea animals have been found to be capable of producing light.
Attraction section, fireflies sentence
Fireflies use light to attract mates.
Associated With: Symbiosis, Bacterial symbioses section, first paragraph
Although many luminous bacteria in the marine environment are free-living, a majority are found in symbiotic relationships that involve fish, squids, crustaceans etc. as hosts.
Associated With: Natural Selection, Evolution section, pelagic selection pressures sentence
The dispersal of bioluminescence across different depths in the pelagic zone has been attributed to the selection pressures imposed by predation and the lack of places to hide in the open sea.
Associated With: Natural Selection, Evolution section, independent evolution sentence
Bioluminescence has evolved independently at least 94 times, first emerging in octocorals some 540 million years ago.
View the SourceWhat is bioluminescence? (NOAA National Ocean Service)
Opening paragraph, first sentenceQuote, Opening paragraph, first sentence
Bioluminescent creatures are found throughout marine habitats, from the ocean surface to the deep seafloor.
Bioluminescence (NOAA Ocean Exploration)
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