True or false: you can see in the dark if you hold up a dead fish. A trick question, of course, because the answer is that it depends upon the fish. Some fish glow in the dark; others don’t. Some earthworms glow in the dark; others don’t. Amoeba, fungi, insects, some invertebrates…but apparently, not humans. We simply don’t glow in the dark. Nor do other mammals, or birds for that matter, or reptiles or amphibians, so you needn’t feel inadequate; at least, not on that account. The glowing happens in these luminiferous organisms when oxygen is combined with luciferin (look up that etymologically — fun!), releasing energy which then radiates. There are many theories as to the evolutionary advantage to glowing: attempt to startle; to hide; to attract other larger predators to feed upon your stalkers; to ward off homesteaders; to light up your dinner before eating it; to show off to the opposite or same sex, depending upon your chemistry; well, and et cetera, et cetera, including “I just want to look pretty.” The glow in the picture is from a gaggle of dinoflagellates, single-celled organisms in the plankton family which — oh, I can’t go into all that right now, but I urge you to look up “bioluminescence” in — no, no, no, don’t just Google it. Don’t be so lazy! Well, very well, if you must…but please at least click on a link to a scientific site, not one of those — Oh, and shrimps!, I forgot…there are glowing shrimps and squids, but apparently no glowing crabs. (Silence. Pellinore realizes with a sinking feeling he is, once again, alone.) Have I lost you? You’re gone, looking at pictures of glowing worms, and soon you’ll be distracted by cats frightened by cucumbers….
bioluminescence
