The Ultimate Bioluminescence Quiz

Bioluminescence is when an animal makes its own light and carries it around on its body.

Incandescent light is light produced through heat.

Animals create light through a chemical process, whereby chemicals mix together producing a glow. This process is know as luminescence.

Luminescence neither requires heat nor does it produce heat. It is therefore referred to as cold light.

Bioluminescent animals sometimes exhaust their glowing abilities when captured or the process of capture may damage the light-producing organs. This makes it difficult to study them.

Electrons move up an atomic orbit when they get excited by energy. When an electron settles back down, it releases the energy, known as a photon, in the form of light.

Most bioluminescent creatures are found in the sea. However, animals such as certain fungi, glow worms and fireflies are bioluminescent creatures found on land.

There are three zones, according to depth. The first zone is the sunlit zone, called the euphotic zone. The second zone is the twilight or disphotic zone. The third and deepest zone is the midnight or aphotic zone.

Most bioluminescent creatures exist in the disphotic or twilight zone of the ocean, which generally extends from about 660 feet to about 3,000 feet deep. Examples of bioluminescent animals that live here are jellyfish, squid, shrimp, krill, marine warms and fish.

Red, orange and yellow light from the sun are absorbed by seawater and violet light is scattered in the water. This means that the only light that reaches the twilight zone are blue and green wavelengths, creating the blue-green color of the sea. Blue and green have short wavelengths which helps them to penetrate the water.

Bioluminescent creatures create a light of about 440 to 479 nanometers, which matches the blue-green color of the ocean. Their glow can travel a long way and blends in with the sunlight from above. Sometimes bioluminescent animals are the primary source of light in an area.

Dinoflagellates are a species of single-cell plankton that glow when disturbed by tides, storms, marine creatures or passing ships. These disturbances cause large amounts of dinoflagellates to glow simultaneously, producing a glow so bright that it can interfere with marine navigation.

Animals use bioluminescence for a range of reasons, including to communicate, to locate food in dark areas, to mimic other animals and as self-defense to blind predators.

Some animals light their undersides in order to blur their outlines and blend in with the light above, since it is difficult to see below into the dark parts of the ocean below but it is easier to see silhouettes of animals above.

Triggers may be neurological, mechanical or chemical. There are two types of substances involved in the light producing process. One is known as luciferin, a light producing substance, and the other is a luciferase, an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction.

Lucifer means light-bringer. Luciferins and luciferases are generic terms for the types of chemicals that take part in the bioluminescence chemical reaction. Many different substances can be luciferins and luciferases, depending on the bioluminescent animal.

Bacteria with light-producing qualities that live in a symbiotic relationship with an animal will live in a light organ on the host animal's body.

Light-producing bacteria glow all the time. To turn on and off the light, the host animal may cover them with a piece of skin or they may be able to pull their light organs into their bodies.

Fluorescent substances absorb the blue-green light emitted by the animal and emits it as a different color. Some animals use fluorescent substances, such as green fluorescent protein, to adjust the color of the light they emit.

Scientists are researching diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's using bioluminescence. They have given bioluminescent traits to non-luminescent creatures to see how this effects the creature.