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🤩 Swimming through bioluminescent zooplankton on Florida’s east coast.⁠ ⁠ Certain creatures both on land and sea can produce light through chemical reactions taking place within their bodies known as Bioluminescence. The bioluminescence results from a light-producing chemical reaction also called chemiluminescence. Certain types of chemicals when mixed together produce energy that ‘excites’ other particles on vibration and generates light which causes the glow. ⁠ ⁠ The group of chemicals involved to make plankton glow are broadly termed luciferins and the light is produced by a series of oxidation reactions set off by a catalyst called luciferase. The bioluminescence in plankton is very high in several forms of Plankton and is a form of cold light or luminescence.⁠ ⁠ Bioluminescence is used to evade predators and acts as a defense mechanism in dinoflagellates. Dinoflagellates produce light when disturbed and will give a light flash lasting a fraction of a second. The flash is meant to attract a predator to the creature disturbing or trying to consume the dinoflagellate. The light flash also surprises the predator causing it to worry about other predators attacking it, making the predator less likely to prey on the dinoflagellate.⁠ ⁠ _____⁠ ⁠ 🎥 courtesy of: @narcosis27⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ #bioluminescence #saltlife #discover #discoverearth #marinebiology #biology #sealife #oceanlife #science