You must have seen some organisms which light up during the night or must have heard about it. Turn out there is not just one but many organisms like that. They are known as bioluminescent organisms. They come in various shapes and sizes. Many of them exist in a place where humans can’t even thrive for a second.

In this post, you will top 5 of these organisms and where they are found. Without further ado, let’s start

1. Firefly

Must have heard about this fly. Whenever most people see this name the first thing that comes in their mind is fireflies flying on a dark, beautiful night, enjoying inside a tent camp. What many people don’t know is that each firefly has its own flash pattern. It flies through the flashing its own flash pattern to find mates during twilight. But don’t get influenced by the beauty they are equally dangerous. They light up because of the chemical reaction which I talk more about here. They not only taste nasty but they have a natural method of defending from prey. When some predator attacks, fireflies kick in a process called ‘reflex bleeding’. During this process, they release blood which contains bitter tasting chemical which is poisonous for vertebrates and sometimes for humans too.

2. Aequorea victoria

I bet most of have never heard of this creature or maybe you would have in some movie or picture. The reason is that they are found in very specific places. They are only found on the west coast of North America. They can be found swimming on the shoreline of southern California. You will able to notice them usually at night. You don’t have worry about jellyfish sting, they have tentacles with nematodes(sting) to capture the prey these are pretty much useless to humans. Most people don’t even realize that they have been stung by Aequorea victoria.

3. Firefly Squid

Ya, you heard it right a squid that lights up. Many of us won’t be able to see it in our lifetime. They are found the Western Pacific Ocean. But that is not the reason, the reason is that they live 183 meters or 600 feet below the surface of the ocean. They only come up during the night time. That doesn’t stop us from learning about this creature. They have amazing ability to camouflage, when they are on the surface they match with the light coming under their body making them transparent to predators. They light up like Firefly, and when some small fish comes up to the surface, they have their meal. They are pretty small in size, they are only 3 inches or 7.6cm at maturity and dies after one year of life.

4. Sea Sparkle

Well, Sea Sparkle is not a scientific but funny name, the scientific name of this creature is Noctiluca Scintillans, for the sake I call it Sea Sparkle. They are available in abundance inside the fresh water, these are not fish this Dinoflagellate (like marine plankton). Initially, they are invisible but show it’s luminescence when disturbed. These are widely found throughout the world, often alongside the coast and shallow waters.

5. Angler Fish

Well, most of you were waiting for this creature. No list of bioluminescence is complete without it. Anglerfish are extreme sexual dimorphism meaning that male looks completely different from the female, females are much larger than male, well there are no feminists in angular fish. They use luminescence to capture the prey. They are available in a wide range of colors from dark grey to dark brown, like other these deep sea creatures have very large heads and enormous mouth. They are almost impossible to find by a normal human, they live 1400 feet below the water surface. They swim at a very poor speed of 2.4 cm per second. They have a very unusual method of mating, mating is also not very common for them as the swimming rate is so slow, their encounter with a partner is very rare. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed presenting it.