Future Directions in Bioluminescence Research

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ABSTRACT

Sources of Bioluminescence in the Ocean

Peter J. Herring

Southampton Oceanography Centre, Southampton SO14 3ZH, U.K.

The ocean contains a much greater diversity of bioluminescent organisms than does the remainder of the global environment. These organisms range from single-celled bacteria and dinoflagellates to sharks and squid more than a metre in length and on to siphonophores tens of metres long. Luminous species are present at all depths. The light output of individual organisms varies markedly between species and there is no simple correlation with their size.

The organisms responsible for most of the instrument-observed bioluminescence differ in surface and deep oceanic waters; in the epipelagic zone (to 200m) the predominant sources of light are dinoflagellates and zooplankton, particularly copepod crustaceans. The gelatinous fauna are also often important contributors, but are difficult to quantify; in deeper water they are joined by fish and squid as the major contributors. Holothurians may be important close to the seabed. The distribution patterns of many luminous organisms in the upper 1000m are subject to diel vertical migration and the epipelagic populations at night include many of the daytime deep-water species.

Changes in the abundance, distribution and variety of species will all have profound effects on the potential (and actual) stimulable bioluminescence of different regions at different seasons. Despite our knowledge of the populations, the causes of some of the more spectacular marine bioluminescent phenomena are still not understood.

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