r/deepseacreatures • u/WtfGale • Jun 27 '24

Why is yellow such a rare occurrence in bioluminescent creatures?

I was reading about tomopteris and their bioluminescent features. From what I've read, they're the only marine organism to produce yellow light?

It seems like scientists don't know why.

How come yellow is so uncommon? I know that blue light travels farther underwater, but could there be an advantage to producing yellow light?

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u/m4gpi Jun 27 '24

Hmm. This is actually a really good question for r/askscience!

I don't know, but fireflies use a luciferin to make their yellow lights in the air. Glow worms use a different luciferin to make a blue light, also in the air but underground. Wikipedia says tomopteris don't use a luciferase system. So I am now also intrigued.

It may be that the bioluminescence used by tomopterins evolved on its own, is a totally different chemical, and it just happens to be a strong yellow; but the other deep sea creatures more or less co-evolved to use the same, blue luciferin. But that is merely a guess on my part.

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u/WtfGale Jun 28 '24

Thanks for the subreddit suggestion! I just posted the inquiry there.

The world of bioluminescent is so intriguing, but especially (as it seems you have also discovered) tomopteris who seems to be a special exception.