Marlene asks: A former science teacher said that cockroaches glow under black light. Are they flourescent?
Marlene, I have never seen a cockroach glow under black light however other pests in more tropical or desert regions, the scorpions, do glow fluorescently. Scorpions are well known for this behavior. Their generally soft cuticle has fluorescent compounds. There is a famous picture on the cover of Science of a fluorescent scorpion. I once took a walk in the evening desert outside Albuquerque NM with a portable black light. The cresote bushes, after dark, illuminated with black light became like Xmas treess illuminated with scorpions which were foraging for prey on all the twigs and branches of each bush. It was a powerful demonstration of how physically active they become at night and just how many scorpions are out there. Perhaps some cockroach species would show some flourescence but I have never seen it nor heard of it from any other experts.
