Nature's FrankenFish - 180 Glowing Species Exist Naturally
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 - 18:30
in Biology & Nature
Fish that glow and various other creatures that are given that ability due to genetic modifications often make the news for shock value. Huffington Post got an opportunity to 'shock' and 'amaze' its audience with a story about piglets that glow in the dark thanks to some jellyfish DNA. But it's rather common in nature, it turns out. A team of researchers has released the first report of widespread biofluorescence - a phenomenon by which organisms absorb light, transform it, and eject it as a different color - in the tree of life of fishes, identifying more than 180 species that glow in a wide range of colors and patterns. read more