Bioluminescence: v8

GUANINE: In 1844 a German scientist named Julius Unger, isolated guanine from the guano droppings of seabirds. He named guanine after bird droppings–guano. This bird-dropping fertilizer molecule, guanine,  is what our DNA uses for one of its 4 base pairs. it’s the G in A, T,C and G. 

GUANINE: Guanine is often made into  crystals in living things by DNA-made proteins. Dogs use guanine crystals to make eyeshine the mirror in the back of their eyes, So do alligators! Sturgeons and Japanese Koi fish use these guanine crystals in their skin iridocyte cells to give the fish their silvery appearance.

GUANINE: Lobsters use guanine crystals to see with. Guanine crystals line the inside of their 8-sided tube eye cells. These crystals reflect the light down the tubes to the lobster’s retina.

GUANINE: We use liquid guanine in shampoos for a pearly effect that shines. It gives the pearly effect for nail polish. It’s used to make slimes that look like pearls. It’s even used in metallic paints! It is also used as the mirror on the ceiling of the light-making chamber of the firefly. 

BOBTAIL SQUID: In the bobtail squid’s mantle (which is the top… his “head”) he has a little chamber. In the little chamber there are glow-in-the-dark fungi. When the bobtail squid is young, he has a filter that gathers the glow-in-the-dark creatures into this chamber. His DNA also has a little breakfast recipe for them…It makes exactly what they need to eat.

BOBTAIL SQUID: The bobtail squid feeds his bioluminescent creatures with diatoms it gathers from the ocean. 

BOBTAIL SQUID: There aren’t too many fireflies flashing in areas where there is too much light or on nights where there is a full moon. Why? It’s because fireflies have sensors that detect how much light is around them. If there is too much light, then messages are sent to the brain. Their tiny little brain then saves their flashing for a night with less light. 

BOBTAIL SQUID: Many bioluminescent frogs use this technique (above) to help keep them hidden.

BOBTAIL SQUID: The tiny 40-inch bobtail squid will use its light intensity detectors to read the amount of light penetrating the water it’s swimming in at whatever depth or time of day or night it is. 

BOBTAIL SQUID: The bobtail squid’s brain will match the brightness of the light coming from above it with the amount of light it gives off. This makes it so they are invisible to predators swimming ABOVE them.