The predator bore down on its prey. It was bigger, faster, more aggressive and intending to snack on shrimp.
In self-defense, the decapod shrimp vomited a cloud of bright light in the face of the Gonostoma elongatum (light fish).
Deep under the ocean, scientist Edith Widder captured the moment on film, one of many examples of bioluminescence on display at the “Glow: Living Light” exhibit that runs through Sept. 6 at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.
The exhibit focuses on the phenomenon of an organism’s ability to produce its own light.
Light-producing fireflies, mushrooms, snails, worms, jellies, viperfish, octopus, squid and shrimp have much to teach us about energy efficiency, adaptation and evolution.
Scientists use bioluminescence to track animal distribution in the deep ocean, look for contaminants in soft-drink bottles, track environmental pollutants, and tag cancer cells to measure their growth.
Widder, senior scientist at Florida’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution and co-curator of the exhibit, was at first drawn to the field by the “Wow!” factor.
Widder had talked to divers who had seen bioluminescent organisms in the ocean and they usually summed up the experience by saying, “Oh wow!”
“That was not very scientific,” she said.
Then, as a test pilot of a submersible, she had her own experience at 2,000 feet.
“I turned out the lights and it was completely, ‘Oh wow!’ I lost all scientific objectivity and was completely blown away.
“That experience changed the course of my career and I’ve spent most of it developing instruments to quantify the ‘Oh wow!’ factor.”
A pioneer in marine bioluminescence, Widder holds a co-patent on an instrument used to measure the cool light.
Widder, with more than 200 dives in Johnson-Sea-Link submersibles, was the first to shoot video of bioluminescence in the ocean, and has had films on National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. She’s also written “The Bioluminescence Coloring Book” and “Lucinda’s Lamps: A Mermaid’s Guide to Bioluminescence.”
A walk through the exhibit offers a glimpse into the unusual life deep in the ocean through photographs, displays, specimens, and video.
Well-crafted exhibits discuss land-based light-producing creatures, too. A light bulb loses 97 percent of its energy to heat; a firefly loses only 3 percent, definitely an interest to the energy-efficiency field.
In the ocean, survival gave bioluminescence its jump start.
“The ocean is filled with swifter, nastier predators. (Away from the shoreline) there are no trees or bushes so you either evolve to outswim the predator or find some place to hide. Many organisms moved into darker depths where they were harder to see. They had evolved eyes, so visual signaling was going on.
“There was evolutionary pressure to enhance sensitivity to eyes and the visibility of the signal. That’s where bioluminescence comes in.”
Bioluminescence also has been used to lure prey as well as to confuse predators. Flashes could be territorial, an alarm, or even attract a larger predator to eat whatever is attacking the flasher.
From Saturday through Aug. 17, Widder is with Operation Deep Scope in the Gulf of Mexico, using a fairly new instrument, Eye-of-the-Sea, a camera-laden, battery-powered deep-sea observatory that can sit on the bottom of the ocean.
Widder took her first dive in 1983, but she’s still not jaded by the experience after two decades of dives.
“It’s sitting there in a bubble in the middle of a silent fireworks display and it’s breathtaking.”
“Glow” offers a glimpse into that world.
Edith Widder / HBOI
The decapod shrimp (left), featured in the Pacific Science Center exhibit “Glow: Living Lights,” vomits a cloud of bright light to evade a predator, the lightfish.
S. Haddock / MBARI
This attractive deep sea squid has photophores, or light organs, on the tips of its tentacles. Some species of octopus and squid use light to attract a meal; others use it to avoid becoming a meal.
“Glow: Living Lights”
Through Sept. 6 at Pacific Science Center, 200 Second Ave. N., Seattle. $10 adults, $8.50 seniors, $7 ages 3-12. 206-443-2001
“Glow: Living Lights”
Through Sept. 6 at Pacific Science Center, 200 Second Ave. N., Seattle. $10 adults, $8.50 seniors, $7 ages 3-12. 206-443-2001
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