Here are some articles and website sources that have peaked my interest. I found that the information found here was really helpful with giving me a better understanding of how bioluminescence works, and the specifics of this reaction. I plan to also learn more through books however, this might be difficult because of the pandemic. Alternatively, I may replace this with the use of ebooks from the Ulster University website. Documentaries and movies might also be a good way to learn more about this topic.
This article goes into detail about how Bioluminescence occurs. It explains the process of the chemical reaction between oxygen and luciferin, and how it produces this source of light. Moreover, I found it interesting how it explains that ‘Some organisms even bundle the luciferin with oxygen in what is called a “photoprotein”- like a pre-packaged bioluminescence bomb’. This intrigued me as I thought of how the Vampire Squid releases bioluminescent clouds in defense and perhaps this idea could be incorporated into some of the creature or character designs of our world. The article itself is really helpful in explaining the definition of bioluminescence, how its made, and the types of creatures that produce it. It is described with simple terminology, sentence structures, and layout which makes it a lot less difficult for the reader to understand, myself included. In addition, I like how they have added imagery as it proves as great examples of what is spoken about. Ultimately, I learned a great deal of information from this website, especially with learning the reasons a creature may emit light. As included on the website, some of the stimuli for this reaction include, ‘Feeding’, ‘Attracting mates’, and ‘Protection’ which is extremely interesting to think about! From what I have learned here, I have decided to incorporate this into our world. Instead of making the creatures glow for aesthetic purposes, I plan to use this knowledge to give them a purpose for doing so, whether it’s for defense, camouflage or to attract other species.
This website has less information, but more so focuses on the types of creatures that produce light in deep-sea levels. From what I have found, a lot of these creatures seem to be species of jellyfish, which is really intriguing and I wonder if there is a reason for this- perhaps evolution is involved? The article itself is really helpful in terms of reference imagery and also about how these specific creatures use bioluminescence in many different ways. Perhaps, I could take some of these creatures and can mutate them so that they fit the scheme of the world? Although this page isn’t as informative as the others, it has shown me various types of creatures and is definitely a source of visual information I plan to go back to.
This webpage included a video describing the process of the chemical reaction behind bioluminescence (The text below pretty much summarises what is talked about in the video). It mainly goes into detail about different organisms and how they all have the same chemical process. What I found interesting was how they mentioned that ‘three quarters of deep-sea animals are bioluminescent’ and taking into consideration that, ‘More than eighty percent of our ocean is unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored’ (Oceanservice.noaa.gov), this means that there are probably more species out there than we can comprehend- which is equally an exciting but scary thought. Overall, this webpage and video helped me to further understand the process of light production, and given the diagram that is shown, it definitely made more sense in comparison to before with the first website. This information was really useful and can be used to correct any illogical concepts or designs of the creatures and characters in our world. It can reinforce how the environment works in co-junction to the organisms, for example, if an area has a lower concentration of oxygen, perhaps the light emitted from these creatures are lower in vibrancy?