Culture of bioluminescent plankton glowing bright blue as it is disturbed by bubbling air. This plankton is the tropical marine dinoflagellate Pyrocys

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Culture of bioluminescent plankton glowing bright blue as it is disturbed by bubbling air. This plankton is the tropical marine dinoflagellate Pyrocystis fusiformis. It forms huge swarms in warm seas, photosynthesizing during the day. At night the swarms produce light when disturbed, through a chemical reaction involving a luciferin molecule being oxidized by a luciferase enzyme. As seen here, it only glows when disturbed: during bubbling it glows brightly, but as soon as bubbling stops it turns off. Cultured at the Culture Collection of Algae at the University of Cologne, Germany.

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Size: 5115px × 3416px
Photo credit: © GERD GUENTHER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1, animal, biological, biology, cilia, ciliate, cilium, contrast, dic, differential, earthworm, fauna, interference, invertebrate, invertebrates, light, lm, metaradiophrya, micro-organism, micro-organisms, microbiological, microbiology, micrograph, microorganism, microorganisms, microscope, nature, parasite, parasitic, protozoa, protozoan, protozoans, single, single-celled, sp., unicellular, wildlife, zoological, zoology