Why in news?
Bioluminescence has been witnessed in this fish.
What is bioluminescence?
- Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism.
- It is a form of chemiluminescence.
- It occurs widely in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms including some bioluminescent bacteria and terrestrial arthropods such as fireflies.
- In some animals, the light is bacteriogenic, produced by symbiotic organisms such as Vibrio bacteria and in others, it is autogenic, produced by the animals themselves.
- In a general sense, the principal chemical reaction in bioluminescence involves some light-emitting molecule and an enzyme, generally called the luciferin and the luciferase, respectively.
- The reaction takes place inside or outside the cell.
- In Dragonfish (a scale less fish found inhabiting deep in the sea) there are special organs called photophores that are known to produce light.
- Apart from producing the traditional blue-green colour, they are also capable of producing the red light which helps them find their prey in the dark.
