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From fireflies to glow worms, algae to squid, a dazzling array of

organisms can perform an act of magic: they can generate their own
ANIMALS light through a process known as bioluminescence. And it isn’t just an
aesthetic wonder. It has evolved independently at least 100 times in
What
What were
were the
the oldest
oldest animals
animals to
to glow?
glow? nature and has dozens of diverse uses, from luring prey to freaking out
A
A new
new study
study offers
offers aa clue.
clue. predators to winking at a potential mate.
Hundreds of plants, fungi, and animals can do it. Now scientists think bioluminescence
may have evolved 540 million years ago in Earth’s ancient oceans.
But when did life first develop the ability to glow in the dark? For
decades, scientists believed the oldest example of animal
bioluminescence could be found in a diminutive marine crustacean
known as an ostracod, one that lived 267 million years ago and could
light itself up. But a new study, published today in the Proceedings of
the Royal Society B, winds the clock on bioluminescence way, way back.

By studying an oft-bioluminescent group of deep-sea critters named

octocorals, scientists have concluded that they shared a primeval light-
bearing ancestor that lived 540 million years ago. This creature would
have emerged during the Cambrian Explosion, a period in Earth’s
history of seemingly supercharged evolutionary activity that saw many
of the major animal groups we know today appear for the first time.

Research suggests that bioluminescence may have originally developed in the inky depths of the world's oceans.
Even before emerging in species su... Read More
PH OTOGRAPH BY SHAN E GROS S, NATU RE PI CT URE LIBRA RY

By Robin George Andrews

April 24, 2024

A bamboo octocoral, Isadella sp. displaying bioluminescence, observed in the Bahamas, 2009.
PHOTOGRAPH BY SÖ N KE JO HN SEN
A colonial, false gold coral, Savalia sp., displaying bioluminescence, observed in the Bahamas, 2009.
PHOTOGRAPH BY SÖ N KE JO HN SEN
“That was a very exciting and pleasant surprise,” says Danielle DeLeo, a
deep-sea biologist at Florida International University and the study’s
lead author.
“Bioluminescence, and light signaling in general, could be one of the
oldest forms of communication that we have evidence of, which was not
what we were originally expecting.”
In other words, the seas and oceans of the world are generally dark
places. But almost as long as complex animals have existed, so too have
there been lights flickering in the darkness.
Traps, beacons, and klaxons
Bioluminescence is a cold light chemical reaction, one that requires the
presence of luciferin—a light-making compound. Some lifeforms make
luciferin themselves, while others absorb it from symbiotic organisms or
by ingesting it. Some animals even give luciferin-containing bacteria or
algae a comfortable abode in their bodies. But regardless of how
luciferin is obtained, it is then combined with a catalyst (commonly
luciferase) to generate luminescence, and different hues are emitted
depending on how the luciferin molecules are arranged.
While a variety of land life forms have bioluminescence, by far the most
biological fireworks can be found in the ocean: three-quarters of marine
animals are able to light themselves up in some way, and there’s almost
no limit to their creativity.

“It’s so diverse and variable,” says DeLeo. In some cases,
bioluminescence can announce an animal’s quest for a paramour.
Predators with rumbling stomachs can use the process to blind and stun
their dinner, or draw gullible prey into their maws, or to act as a
searchlight to spy a swimming snack.
Bioluminescence is also used for defenses, including camouflage
(making an animal’s underbelly glow so it blends in with the iridescent
waves at the sea surface, for example) and as a decoy (detaching a
luminous body part to distract a voracious predator, perhaps).
Some deep-sea crustaceans even employ a flamboyantly guttural
method of protection. “They have this bioluminescent vomit that they
spew out when they’re startled,” says DeLeo.
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Octocorals can also shine in the dark. Although superficially similar to
the stony-housed polyp colonies that make up coral reefs many are
familiar with, these wiggly animals have a soft structure, along with a
few other morphological quirks.
And the purpose of their bioluminescence is debated. Although these
immobile inhabitants of the deep may sometimes use their light to lure
in some tasty invertebrates to supplement their diet, they glow most
noticeably when they are prodded—perhaps to startle a hungry
predator.
“It’s what we call the burglar alarm hypothesis,” says Jon Copley, a That bioluminescence could be traced back to the Cambrian Explosion
marine ecologist at the University of Southampton who wasn’t involved is an elegant finding. “It is the time that we knew that eyes were taking
with the new work. “Bioluminescence is used to make a commotion, one off,” says Copley, referring to animals that evolved the ability to detect
that attracts the attention of potential predators of the predator.” light. It makes sense that bioluminescence would emerge around the
same time. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence at all.”
A bright, ancient time
But that primordial glowing was probably not used for today’s burglar
Debates about purpose aside, DeLeo and her colleagues wanted to use
alarm-like purpose. “We think this light production was more of a
octocorals to try something ambitious: find the earliest ancestor that
secondary byproduct,” says DeLeo—an inadvertent brilliance triggered
could bioluminesce.
by another biochemical reaction. But over time, the bioluminescent
reactions “were kept because they started serving this really important
A recent, detailed octocoral evolutionary tree using genetic data from
function of communication, or light signaling.”
almost 200 species gave them that chance. First, they placed additional
octocoral fossils with known ages on that tree to better illuminate how
It's possible that the origins of bioluminescence may go back even
various lineages are related. They also mapped out the tree branches
further than the Cambrian. Perhaps, due to a paucity of fossils older
that featured living bioluminescent species. Then, they used statistical
than this period, scientists may never conclusively find out when this
analyses to work out how probable it was that various ancestors were
underwater starlight first appeared. But thanks to that initial ignition, a
bioluminescent.
cornucopia of lifeforms today can light up their surroundings—giving
researchers countless opportunities to study this remarkable ability.
Ultimately, the team rewound the clock by 540 million years—back to
the time of the common ancestor of octocorals, a creature that was
“There’s so much more to discover,” says DeLeo.
almost certainly capable of self-illumination.

“We did think there was a good chance the age of the most recent
common ancestor was going to be hundreds of millions of years old. We Related Topics
didn’t realize quite how old!” says DeLeo. BIOLUMINESCENCE M A R I N E B I O LO GY PA L E O N T O L O G Y PA L E O Z O I C E R A

CORALS OCEAN LIFE

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