Today I met a woman who grew up in Puerto Rico. Since I've been working on an article about bioluminescent jellyfish, I knew about the dinoflagellites in a bay in Vieques Puerto Rico. When these tiny organisms are disturbed they glow in the dark. She lit up when she talked of this Bay and traveling through it by charter boat. She told me they're so small you can't see them in your hand. Then she described scooping up a pail of water and pouring it out. In darkness, the water sparkles with tiny stars of light. How cool! I thought it would be so much fun to swim at night having every movement create glowing light. Then she mentioned the barracuda's in the water!
I found a website where you can actually buy dinoflagellites. I've never bought them so I have no clue how difficult it is to keep them or if the site is reputable, although it looks that way.
The same chemical reaction that causes a firefly to make light happens in a dinoflagellite. Scientists found out that crystal jellyfish make light differently then fireflies. It took years and years of studying these jellyfish, but now research labs all around the world are using what was discovered. It is an amazing story that will be published in December of 2008 in ChemMatters.
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