User:Anderabx/Bioluminescence

Illumination[edit]
While most marine bioluminescence is green to blue, some deep sea barbeled dragonfishes in the genera Aristostomias, Pachystomias and Malacosteus emit a red glow. This adaptation allows the fish to see red-pigmented prey, which are normally invisible to other organisms in the deep ocean environment where red light has been filtered out by the water column. The fish is able to utilize the longer wavelength to act as a spotlight for it's prey that only it is able to see. In addition to the utilization of the ight for predation, it has been hypothesized that the fish use this to communicate with eachother to find potential mates. The ability of the fish to see this light is explained by the presence of specialized rhodopsin pigment. The angler siphonophor (Erenna), also utilizes red bioluminescence in appendages to lure fish.

The black dragonfish (also called the northern stoplight loosejaw) Malacosteus niger is probably the only fish to produce a red glow. Its eyes, however, are insensitive to this wavelength; it has an additional retinal pigment which fluoresces blue-green when illuminated. This alerts the fish to the presence of its prey. The additional pigment is thought to be assimilated from chlorophyll derivatives found in the copepods which form part of its diet.