F@#$ Yeah! Biology!

surfacecurrents:

Female fireworms get sexy by going near the surface and emitting a green phosphorescent glow. Once attracted, the males flash back at them and begin crawling towards the light. The female will usually mate with several males; they swim in tight circles around each other while all parties shed their gametes into the water for combining.

Sometimes I worry that I post too much about sex. And then I remember that THIS IS A BIOLOGY BLOG. What the heck isn’t about sex?

and this ^ is why dragon and I are friends. - nerd.

(via )

fuckyeahbiolum:

Some bioluminescent species get really cranky when you disturb them. Tomopteris, a tiny marine worm, erupts into a shower of angry sparks and unloads its eggs into the water before rapidly undulating away. What is unusual about this worm is that the sparks it shoots from its paddle-shaped swimming legs are golden yellow in color and not blue, like practically every other bioluminescent organism.

Other marine worms are thought to release glowing blue particles into the water to make themselves look less tasty to hungry predators. Few deep-living species have the ability to detect yellow light, which, because it has a higher wavelength, gets absorbed in the shallow surface waters, so it is unclear why Tomopteris uses it. For the moment, researchers are still trying to suss out the chemistry of the yellow luminescence, which may yield some clues about its unique function.

Awesome! Another one of my favorite biological things.

Thanks to Paulie for the link. :)

(Source: youtube.com)

Bioluminescence. Rock on!

(Source: ted.com)

gnihciew:

This little beauty is Bathocyroe fosteri, a lobate ctenophore found at intermediate depths in all the seas. It’s very common and abundant near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and measures about two inches tall. Because of its fragility, it was only described in 1978, when it was collected from a submersible. This genus can produce blue and green luminescence.

Cool!

Bioluminescent Mammals

fuckyeahbiolum:

Scientists have genetically engineered many species of mammals to be bioluminescent, using variations of jellyfish DNA to show a desired glowing phenotype. Below are a few different types of chordates that can successfully bioluminesce.

Pig

Cat

Monkey

Dog

Rat

fuckyeahbiolum:

fyeahbioluminescence:

Bioluminescent bacteria.

This is totally COOL. If you can, zoom in on this photo and look at all the awesome shapes. :D

BTW - I suggest following fuckyeahbiolum. That blog is awesome. I’ve been personally following it for a few weeks now. 

fuckyeahbiolum:

subcreation:

Bioluminescent mushrooms by budak

Sweet! Isn’t it awesome that we can put genes from one creature into another? (Yes, fungi are creatures.) Remember, fungi are not plants!

Fun facts about mushrooms: they are reproductive structures of fungi that generally “run” along under the ground. The fungus in this picture is probably at least five or six times the area the photo covers. Some are edible and some will kill you. Never pick mushrooms to eat unless you are 100% sure they are edible!