First ‘Glowing’ Sea Turtle Discovered in Solomon Islands
“Some corals are known to ‘glow’ underwater, as do some jellyfish, eels, & more than 180 other fish species.
And now...it was discovered that reptiles also have the ability to light up like a Christmas tree.
...a glowing hawksbill sea turtle — a critically endangered species – was discovered in the Solomon Islands by David Gruber, a marine biologist.
Gruber was on an expedition...His intention was to film bioflourescent corals & small sharks.
Biofluorescence, as National Geographic explains, is ‘the ability to reflect the blue light hitting a surface & re-emit it as a different color.'...
One night as Gruber was filming a coral reef, the hawksbill sea turtle appeared ‘from out of the blue,’... He described the turtle as looking like a ‘bright red & green spaceship.’
Gruber’s diving partner... Markus Reymann, said... that he’d never seen a turtle that calm. ‘He was just hanging out with us. I was loving the light.’
Scientists have only been studying bioflourescence for about 10 years...
Most bioflourescent animals display only one color, usually green or red. Corals can display both colors – & apparently, so can sea turtles, although Gruber said the red could be from algae on the shell.
The reason why the hawksbill is bioflourescent remains a mystery. ‘We know they have really good vision. They go on long & arduous migrations,’ Gruber said. He said they could glow to find or attract each other.
It could also be a defense mechanism to protect themselves from predators. Alexander Gaos, director of the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative (ICAPO), a nonprofit working to bring this species back from the brink of extinction, told National Geographic bioflourescence could serve as a kind of camouflage...
According to ICAPO, hawksbills are the only species of sea turtle with ‘a brilliantly colored, keratinous shell consisting of overlapping (imbricated) scutes, colloquially referred to as a tortoise shell.’...
Because the hawksbill sea turtle is now one of the rarest species on Earth, finding the reasons for its bioflourescence will be extremely difficult. Gruber will instead study the green sea turtle, which is closely related to the hawksbill but not as close to extinction...
...Hawksbill sea turtles are showing signs of recovery in the Arnavon Islands, according to a study earlier this year by the Nature Conservancy. Because of conservation efforts, their population has doubled over the past 20 years...”
Laura Goldman
care2.com
October 1, 2015
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