A recent study suggests that deep-sea corals from 540 million years ago might have been the first animals to glow. Marine creatures use light for various purposes, such as startling predators ...

A new study reveals that the phenomenon in deep reefs in which corals display glowing colors ... by the fact that creatures in the sea are able to glow. The phenomenon is very common in reef ...

“Octocorals are soft-bodied corals that have ... expect that the earliest glowing octocorals originated in shallow waters before later expanding into the deep sea. “I feel this paper presents ...

The more humans have explored the deep oceans, the more examples ... looking for signs of light. A bioluminescent bamboo coral (a type of soft coral) called Isidella that was collected in the ...

Today, there are more than six thousand known species of coral that can be found almost anywhere in the ocean. Deep-sea corals can thrive as many as 10,000 feet below the surface, a realm of the ...

Using genetic discoveries based on modern bioluminescent organisms, scientists have estimated coral bioluminescence to have originated in the Cambrian period, about 540 million years ago.

Examples include luminous fireflies, algae that create "glow-in-the-dark" bays, small crustaceans with intricate courtship displays, and deep-sea fish and coral. Yet despite its widespread ...

Caption A magnificent coral Iridogorgia magnispiralis, a deep-sea octocorals that are known to be bioluminescent. Researchers now know the common ancestor of all octocorals likely already had the ...