SEPTEMBER 29, 2015
by Brett Smith
While diving off the Solomon Islands in the Southwest Pacific Ocean, marine biologists discovered the first-ever case of biofluorescence in reptiles.
According to a report from National Geographic, scientists found the endangered hawksbill sea turtle exhibiting red and green biofluorescence – when an organism absorbs light, transforms it and re-emits it as a different color.
The most common biofluorescence colors are red, green, and orange. Biofluorescence is different from bioluminescence, which is when an organism generates its own light. Corals, fish, crustaceans and mantis shrimp have all been found to fluoresce.
"I've been (studying turtles) for a long time and I don't think anyone's ever seen this," Alexander Gaos, a hawksbill conservationist who was not involved in the find, told Nat Geo. "This is really quite amazing."
The team was actually in the Solomon Islands to film biofluorescence in small sharks and coral reefs, when they stumbled upon the glowing endangered turtle. Team member David Gruber, a marine biologist at City University of New York, said the hawksbill turtle looked like a large alien spacecraft, with glowing patches of red and green all over its body.
Gruber was able to capture video of the turtle using just his camera and a blue light, which matched the color of the surrounding ambient light. The turtle’s biofluorescence was also made more visible through the use of a yellow filter on the camera.
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