Bioluminescence- Sparklies in the Water
I completed 5 dives this weekend for my advanced scuba diving certification. The adventure dives I completed included a deep dive, navigation dive, search and recovery, naturalist and a night dive.
The night dive was the one I was the most apprehensive about and it was the coolest dive I did. There is so much more life at night.
Night diving is awesome. One thing unique to the ocean though is the bioluminescence.
Bioluminescence is light emitted by organisms in a chemical process in which chemical energy is converted to light energy. A terrestrial example is fireflies.
But in the ocean, microscopic creatures, like dinoflagellates produce bioluminescence When you turn off your dive lights and wave your hands, they light up at the water disturbance. It looks like sparkles in the water, tiny pinpoints of light glowing in the darkness. It is like watching a kids movie and seeing the fairy dust. Tinker bell would be proud.
I was very sad to turn my light back on and stop playing with the bioluminescence.
However, there are so many things that come out at night that I was eager to continue looking at other marine organisms… like crabs, shrimp, fish… the list goes on.
Up to 32 oz. of water can be stored in this vessel as well as up to 10 hours of LED light. Clean water and clean solar power combined together in a single nifty bottle - perfect for any outdoor camping geek or keep it in the backseat of your car for emergencies.
Kallen is currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Biology and Journalism at the University of Oregon and, of course, writing a blog.
Erin said,
April 22, 2008 @ 3:14 pm
I did that. We have some marine organisms that do that here in Victoria. It was AWESOME!
Samper said,
April 24, 2008 @ 11:26 pm
Man, it makes me so excited about my open waters. Do you think you’ll go for your rescue diver any time soon?
Jyvyn said,
April 25, 2008 @ 8:43 pm
Do they use bacteria to light up, or is it just a bodily function?
Kallen said,
May 6, 2008 @ 2:59 pm
To answer all; I’m not looking to do rescue diver yet, I have 3 or 4 more years of university life to think about getting rescue diver or try for my divemaster, but it sounds interesting.
Bioluminescence is a bodily function, which is why scientists think it is so cool. Imagine if as a bodily function, humans just lit up. It would be strange.