Scientists see the light in bizarre bioluminescent snail
(12/16/2010) |The opaque shells of clusterwink snails would seem
to blunt light transmission. - Scripps Institution of
Oceanography, UC San Diego| Two scientists at Scripps
Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have provided the
first details about the mysterious flashes of dazzling
bioluminescent light produced by a little-known sea snail.
Dimitri Deheyn and Nerida Wilson of Scripps Oceanography (Wilson
is now at the Australian Museum in Sydney) studied a species of
"clusterwink snail," a small marine snail typically found in
tight clusters or groups at rocky shorelines. These snails were
known to produce light, but the researchers discovered that
rather than emitting a focused beam of light, the animal uses
its shell to scatter and spread bright green bioluminescent
light in all directions. The researchers, who describe their
findings in the Dec. 15 online version of Proceedings of the
Royal Society B (Biological Sciences), say the luminous disp