Glowing fish have scientists seeing red

It was staring them in the face, but somehow generations of marine biologists have failed to notice that a lot of fish in the sea glow a fluorescent red, according to a new study.

The study, which appears in the open-access journal BMC Ecology, could change the way we look at the marine environment.

It has long been known that red light is not part of the mental universe of marine fish because the sunlight’s longest visible wavelengths do not penetrate below a depth of 10 metres.

‘Blinded’

This foreshortening of the colour spectrum under the waves was also assumed to correspond to a narrowed field of vision in fish, says the study’s lead researcher Nico Michiels, a researcher at the University of Tubingen in Germany.

“The general consensus, which dominated fish literature for 20 or 30 years, was that fish don’t see red very well or at all,” says Michiels.

Because the light is coming from the fish themselves, it remains visible at depth and is easily seen - but only at close distances.

Michiels and his colleagues saw the light, as it were, by accident.

Looking through a filter that blocked out the brighter green and blue light waves, they suddenly saw a universe of sea creatures glowing various hues of cherry, crimson, ruby and rust.

“Besides fish, there are lots of fluorescent organisms on the reef, including algae, coral and other small organisms,” says Michiels

More information can be found at:http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/09/17/2366797.htm

Tags: aquaculture discovery
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