Did you know that some sharks can glow in the dark? This unusual property has long remained unexplored, and the mechanism of its occurrence has continued to excite scholars. However, in recent studies, biologists were finally able to find the answer, just how exactly some of these dangerous predators have the ability to emit bright green light, and what, in fact, they do it.
Like sharks to know each other
Despite the fact that the new shark light hardly noticeable to the human eye, it is well accepted by dogs even over long distances. In addition, the sharks that live off the coast of Chile, is able to emit not only green light but also red and orange. As it turned out in the course of the study, this ability to change color depends on a particular color scheme participating in the process of fluorescence.
Such an unusual quality these sharks can not only be guided well in low light conditions, but also to look for their relatives at great depths.
However, a Yale University Professor Jason Crawford, who participated in the study, noted that such properties of sharks help to create these animals a kind of language to communicate among themselves, as not all ocean creatures are able to perceive this very original feature.
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Moreover, the ability to fluorescence in some way might even affect the immune system of these predators, making them more resilient in comparison with devoid of these functions animals. We already wrote about this. If you’re interested, all of our article appear in our Telegram channel
A unique feature of the shark
If you try to put an ultraviolet light on the cat-shark in the picture above, you can see that she, like a chameleon, changes color from gray to green.
Exploring the anatomy of this amazing creature that lives off the coast of Mexico, biologists have been able to find on the shark body for areas of lighter shade, different color from the overall color. As it turned out, the areas with weak color contain the special substance responsible for the green glow — it was a special small-molecule metabolites, which are used by such sea creatures as jellyfish and corals.
In addition, because of the presence of such substances in the body of the cat sharks, large survival rate of the offspring of this species is directly related to the ability of fluorescence.
The fact that the aforementioned metabolites, in addition, have antibacterial properties.
In other words, in the process of evolution sharks have been able to learn from its ability to completely totally different organisms, having adapted the ability to fluorescence to fit your needs.