What is Bioluminescence?
Bioluminescence refers to the ability of a living organism to emit light. Most creatures that emit light are sea creatures but some insects and plants also emit light. All light including bioluminescence is created by the same process. An electron orbiting the nucleus of an atom receives sufficient energy to jump to a higher orbital shell. When it loses energy and falls back to the lower shell the energy it releases escapes in the form of a photon, or particle of light. In most forms of light we are familiar with, like the sun, an incandescent light bulb, or a warm fireplace, the electrons are thermally excited, therefore much energy is released as heat and only a small portion, comparatively speaking, is released as light. However, in bioluminescence the electrons are excited through a chemical process and no energy is lost as heat. Instead, all of the energy escapes as light. Because there is no heat loss bioluminescence is referred to as “cold light.” The chemicals involved in biolu
Bioluminescence — the emission of visible light by living organisms — is a characteristic of many near-surface ocean creatures. It is in the deepest parts of the oceans, however, that bioluminescence has reached a high state of development; more than two thirds of the species there produce light. Some fishes, squids, and euphausiids (krill) possess “search lights” with lenses, reflectors, and irises almost as complex as those of the human eye.
