Parapriacanthus ransonneti swim in an aquarium
MANABU BESSHO-UEHARA
In the world of bioluminescence, it’s common for organisms to get luciferin—the small molecule needed to make light—from their diet. Scientists have hypothesized that bioluminescent fish make their own luciferase, the enzyme that catalyzes the reaction that causes luciferin to glow. But in a study published this week (January 8) in Science Advances, researchers showed that a species of coastal fish generates light using both luciferin and luciferase captured from its bioluminescent prey, a small crustacean known as an ostracod.
This work “challenges our view of how we perceive fish bioluminescence,” says David Gruber, a marine biologist at City University of New York who was not involved in the study. “In the past, we thought either the fish made both of the components of bioluminescence themselves or just one of the components, but this is an example of them making neither of them ...
