the.com/bioluminescence
life's answer to darkness: cold fire made of chemistry, not heat
means the production and emission of light by a living organism through a chemical reaction, as seen in fireflies, anglerfish, and glowing plankton.
from A modern scientific compound: Greek bios, "life," bolted onto Latin lumen, "light" (related to luminous and illuminate), plus the noun-forming -escence that suggests a process underway. So the word literally reads "living-light-becoming" — a 19th-century coinage from the age when naturalists were busy naming the strange glows they kept hauling up from the deep sea and finding in the night.
- cold light
- converts nearly all energy to light, almost no heat
- deep sea
- most ocean creatures below glow in some way
- luciferin name
- named after Lucifer, meaning light-bringer
- fungal glow
- some mushrooms shine green to lure spore-spreading insects
- defensive vomit
- some squid spew glowing clouds to blind predators
fireflies — photinus pyralis produce light through luciferin oxidation in abdomens across north america
dinoflagellates — noctiluca scintillans create glowing waves off coasts like puerto rico and new zealand
anglerfish — melanocetus johnsonii females use bioluminescent lures 2,000+ meters deep in oceans
glowworms — arachnocampa species in waitomo caves, new zealand create star-like ceiling displays