Glow and be eaten: Marine bacteria use light to lure plankton and fish
Posted by ScienceDaily: Oceanography News on 26 February, 2012
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Not all that glitters is gold. Sometimes it is just bacteria trying to get ahead in life. Many sea creatures glow with a biologically produced light. This phenomenon, known as bioluminescence, is observed, among others, in some marine bacteria which emit a steady light once they have reached a certain level of concentration (a phenomenon called "quorum sensing") on organic particles in ocean waters. Though this was a known occurrence, the benefits of producing light remained unclear. Now, researchers have unraveled the mystery of why the marine bacteria glow. It has to do with what might be called "the survival of the brightest."...