bioluminescence

Table of Contents

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

time-lapse photo of fireflies

bitter oyster (Panellus stipticus)

triplewart seadevil (Cryptopsaras couesii)

water jelly (Aequorea victoria)

photogenic organ

How do fireflies glow?

chain of fluorescent tunicates

For Students

bioluminescence summary

Read Next

Glowworm (Lampyris noctiluca); female glowing at night, Cornwall, England. (beetles, insects, glow worms)

How Do Glowworms Glow?

The saprobe Panellus Stipticus displaying bioluminescence Panellus Stipticus Aug 12, 2009. Bioluminescent fungi. aka bitter oyster, astringent panus, luminescent panellus, stiptic fungus. fungus in the family Mycenaceae

Everything’s Illuminated: 6 Bioluminescent Organisms

Discover

Paul Revere. "The bloody massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.," engraved by Paul Revere. Boston Massacre.

There’s a Riot Goin’ On: Riots in U.S. History (Part One)

Artist interpretation of space asteroids impacting earth and moon. Meteoroids, meteor impact, end of the world, danger, destruction, dinosaur extinct, Judgement Day, Doomsday Predictions, comet

Major Mass Extinctions

Estimated battle casualties, Normandy invasion, World War II. WWII, D-Day

Estimated Battle Casualties During the Normandy Invasion and Campaign to Liberate Paris (June–August 1944)

Dancers at a Cinco de Mayo festival at the Mission District, San Francisco, California. (Photo dated 2019.) holidays

Is Cinco de Mayo Mexico's Independence Day?

Lake Mead (the impounded Colorado River) at the Hoover Dam. The light-coloured band of rock above the shoreline shows the decrease in water level in the first few years of the 21st century.

6 Lakes That Are Drying Up

African Americans demonstrating for voting rights in front of the White House as police and others watch, March 12, 1965. One sign reads, "We demand the right to vote everywhere." Voting Rights Act, civil rights.

Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement

airplane in flight (plane, aircraft, flying)

7 Puzzling Plane Disappearances

bioluminescence: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	biological luminescence

Photos and Videos

time-lapse photo of fireflies

bitter oyster (Panellus stipticus)

triplewart seadevil (Cryptopsaras couesii)

water jelly (Aequorea victoria)

photogenic organ

chain of fluorescent tunicates

How do fireflies glow?

See All Videos and Images →

Topics

foxfire marine bioluminescence How Do Fireflies Light Up?deep-sea angler Arachnocampa luminosa Cirratulus Cypridina hilgendorfii diamond worm Halosydna Histioteuthis photosynthesis glycogenolysis beta-aminoisobutyric acid excretion catabolism glycogenesis anabolism photodynamism photorecovery

Key People

Edmund Newton Harvey

American zoologist

Quiz

Diversity among heteropterans. lace bug, termite bug, coreid bug, bat bug, toad bug, water strider, backswimmer, bedbug, stinkbug, water scorpion, plant bug, insects

All About Biology Quiz

List

The saprobe Panellus Stipticus displaying bioluminescence Panellus Stipticus Aug 12, 2009. Bioluminescent fungi. aka bitter oyster, astringent panus, luminescent panellus, stiptic fungus. fungus in the family Mycenaceae

Everything’s Illuminated: 6 Bioluminescent Organisms