Firefly squid!
Man, is this something I wish I was around to see: The annual ascendance of the bioluminescent Firefly Squid of Toyama Bay. Apparently the squid -- which are normally rather reclusive -- mass near the surface from March to June for their spawning season. According to a Toyama web site, the function of the squid's biochemisty is unknown:
Glowing like blue-green gems, female firefly squid, approximately seven centimeters in length, shed light from around a thousand tiny light-producing organs located in the skin at the ends of their tentacles, around their eyes, and on their bodies (their mantles). It is speculated that this phosphorescence disguises the animal's outline, or perhaps serves to intimidate or confuse potential predators. Other hypotheses for this phenomenon include the theory that the light attracts prey, or alternatively that it serves to distinguish the sexes.
Imagine a tank of those things in your apartment at night!
(Thanks to El Rey for this one!)
Posted by Clive Thompson at April 20, 2006 01:39 AM
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Your arcane wildlife pieces are a constant pleasure to me, Clive.
As for hypothesising; by 'distinguish the sexes' do they not mean that the mechanism relates to sexual display? I mean, this is an extremely elaborate system for gender identification (which is a simple task), whereas we have already seen how display behaviour in a species can amplify any strange traits.
Just an idle thought. :)
Posted by: Chris Bateman at April 20, 2006 2:47 AM
Glad you like them! Yes, I thought precisely the same thing: Sexual differentiation, so the male squid can find a partner. But what a great way to do it!
Posted by: Clive at April 20, 2006 9:23 AM
Wow, glowing squid. Awesome!
Just when you thought the world couldn't get much weirder…
Posted by: johntunger at April 20, 2006 11:32 AM
"There's no place/I'd rather be/with my unique/biochemistry..."
Posted by: Jonn at April 20, 2006 11:54 AM
"Imagine a tank of those things in your apartment at night!"
You can buy other kinds of bioluminescent marine organisms if you want. I have myself a slight obsession for animals / bacteria / algae / fungi producing light, and grew various weird stuff at home or in the lab (being a biologist of course helps).
Dinoflagellates have - from the picture I can see in your post - the exact same blue color than these squids, as you can see here. They are a sort of algae quite famous for being very concentrated in a Puerto Rico bay (information here). They produce this wonderful light when they are stressed, so mainly when you agitate the water, but only at night. I know there are the same type of algae in the Mediterranean, because I remember seeing them when I was a kid and when we went on the beach at night around september I think. You could spot people swimming a hundred yards away, thanks to the very dim halo of light around them.
Anyway. What I wanted to tell you is that you can buy these dinoflagellates from an educational sea farm in California, which website is here (hmm... the price seems a bit higher now, I seem to remember it was 20 dollars a 50ml bag, including shipping). I bought twice from them and I could keep the algae alive for around a month easily, without even trying to subculture them. Every night I would agitate them a bit to see this amazing flash of color.
You could easily subculture them in much bigger volume, fill a big tank with seawater and a few minerals, and keep them for years. I wanted to do that at one point, but didn't have the time really.
Posted by: Guillermito at April 22, 2006 5:43 AM
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Your arcane wildlife pieces are a constant pleasure to me, Clive.
As for hypothesising; by 'distinguish the sexes' do they not mean that the mechanism relates to sexual display? I mean, this is an extremely elaborate system for gender identification (which is a simple task), whereas we have already seen how display behaviour in a species can amplify any strange traits.
Just an idle thought. :)
Posted by: Chris Bateman
at April 20, 2006 2:47 AM
Glad you like them! Yes, I thought precisely the same thing: Sexual differentiation, so the male squid can find a partner. But what a great way to do it!
Posted by: Clive at April 20, 2006 9:23 AM
Wow, glowing squid. Awesome!
Just when you thought the world couldn't get much weirder…
Posted by: johntunger
at April 20, 2006 11:32 AM
"There's no place/I'd rather be/with my unique/biochemistry..."
Posted by: Jonn at April 20, 2006 11:54 AM
"Imagine a tank of those things in your apartment at night!"
You can buy other kinds of bioluminescent marine organisms if you want. I have myself a slight obsession for animals / bacteria / algae / fungi producing light, and grew various weird stuff at home or in the lab (being a biologist of course helps).
Dinoflagellates have - from the picture I can see in your post - the exact same blue color than these squids, as you can see here. They are a sort of algae quite famous for being very concentrated in a Puerto Rico bay (information here). They produce this wonderful light when they are stressed, so mainly when you agitate the water, but only at night. I know there are the same type of algae in the Mediterranean, because I remember seeing them when I was a kid and when we went on the beach at night around september I think. You could spot people swimming a hundred yards away, thanks to the very dim halo of light around them.
Anyway. What I wanted to tell you is that you can buy these dinoflagellates from an educational sea farm in California, which website is here (hmm... the price seems a bit higher now, I seem to remember it was 20 dollars a 50ml bag, including shipping). I bought twice from them and I could keep the algae alive for around a month easily, without even trying to subculture them. Every night I would agitate them a bit to see this amazing flash of color.
You could easily subculture them in much bigger volume, fill a big tank with seawater and a few minerals, and keep them for years. I wanted to do that at one point, but didn't have the time really.
Posted by: Guillermito
at April 22, 2006 5:43 AM