What is bioluminiscence? – The Hindu

Tiny bioluminescent glowworms hang from the cave’s ceiling resembling the nigh sky down under.
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The Hindu Archives

5. Bioluminescence is a “cold light”, which means that the light generated does not produce heat.

6. Some insects, such as the larvae of the railroad worm, a North American beetle, display a multicoloured glow. The head glows red and its body glows green; just like a traffic signal.

7. The vampire squid has a peculiar defence mechanism. When threatened, it squirts a cloud of glowing mucus into its attacker’s face and then swims away!

8. In the dense forests of the Western Ghats, a type of fungi called Mycena lights up the forest floor and tree trunks with what is called “foxfire”. It is thought that these fungi glow to attract insects to spread their spores or to warn away predators.

9. During World War I, soldiers used glow worms to read important messages or maps in the dark without giving their position away.

10. Today, a new phenomenon called “light pollution” is disrupting Nature’s glow. With the development of LED, solar, and bright street lights, our nights are getting brighter. Most animals that produce bioluminescence rely on the cycle of day and night and do not display bioluminescence without complete darkness.