link.springer.com

Red bioluminescence in fishes: on the suborbital photophores of Malacosteus, Pachystomias and Aristostomias - Marine Biology

  • ️Cope, Celia
  • ️Wed Sep 28 2005

Abstract

Many deep-sea animals produce blue bioluminescence, but species of three genera of midwater dragonfishes also produce red light. In addition to numerous small body photophores, species of these genera (Malacosteus, Pachystomias and Aristostomias) have large suborbital photophores that emit red light and postorbital ones that emit blue light. Pachystomias microdon additionally has a red-emitting preorbital photophore. Fluorescence measurements from the intact suborbital photophores, and from their exposed cores, confirm the previous hypothesis that the red light emitted by Malacosteus is spectrally altered by a superficial shortwave cutoff brown filter. No such filter is present in the other two genera. Studies of the anatomy of the photophores show that the suborbital photophore of Malacosteus is similar in general organisation to other photophores, including the postorbital photophore. The red-emitting photophores of Pachystomias and Aristostomias, however, have a unique organisation, in which the bulk of the photophore comprises a gland that lies outside the thick reflector. Strands of tissue run from the gland into the photogenic core of the photophore through numerous pores in the reflector. The production and use of red light by these fishes is discussed in the context of these results.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bowmaker JK, Dartnall HJA, Herring PJ (1988) Longwave-sensitive visual pigments in some deep sea fishes: segregation of paired rhodopsins and porphyropsins. J Comp Physiol A 163:685–698

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brauer A (1908) Die Tiefsee-Fische. II. Anatomische Teil. Wiss Ergebn Dt Tiefsee-Exped “Valdivia” 15:1–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell AK, Herring PJ (1987) A novel red fluorescent protein from the deep sea fish Malacosteus niger. Comp Biochem Physiol 86B:411–417

    Google Scholar 

  • Denton EJ, Gilpin-Brown JB, Wright PG (1970) On the filters in the photophores of mesopelagic fish and on a fish emitting red light and especially sensitive to red light. J Physiol (London) 208:72–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Denton EJ, Herring PJ, Widder EA, Latz MF, Case JF (1985) The roles of filters in the photophores of oceanic animals and their relation to vision in the oceanic environment. Proc R Soc Lond B 225:63–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas RH, Partridge JC (1997) On the visual pigments of deep-sea fish. J Fish Biol 50:68–85

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas RH, Partridge JC, Marshall NJ (1998) The visual systems of deep-sea fish I: Lens pigmentation, tapeta and visual pigments. Progr Retinal Eye Res 17:597–636

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Herring PJ (1981) Red fluorescence of fish and cephalopod photophores. In: DeLuca MA, McElroy WD (eds) Bioluminescence and chemiluminescence. Academic, New York, pp 527–530

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Herring PJ (1983) The spectral characteristics of luminous marine organisms. Proc R Soc Lond B 220:183–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Latz MI, Frank TM, Case JF (1988) Spectral composition of bioluminescence of epipelagic organisms from the Sargasso Sea. Mar Biol 98:441–446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lendenfeld R von (1887) Report on the structure of the phosphorescent organs of fishes. Challenger reports, Zoology 22(Appendix B):277–329

  • Mensinger AF, Case JF (1990) Luminescent properties of deep sea fish. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 144:1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mensinger AF, Case JF (1997) Luminescent properties of fishes from nearshore California basins. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 210:75–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicol JAC (1960) Studies on luminescence. On the subocular light-organs of stomiatoid fishes. J Mar Biol Ass UK 39:529–548

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Partridge JC, Douglas RH (1995) Far-red sensitivity of dragon fish. Nature 375:21–22

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roe HSJ, Shale DM (1979) A new multiple rectangular midwater trawl (RMT 1+8M) and some modifications to the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences’ RMT 1+8. Mar Biol 50:283–288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutton TT, Hopkins TL (1996) Trophic ecology of the stomiid (Pisces: Stomiidae) fish assemblage of the eastern Gulf of Mexico: strategies,selectivity and impact of a top mesopelagic predator group. Mar Biol 127:179–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Widder EA, Latz MI, Case JF (1983) Marine bioluminescence spectra measured with an optical multichannel detection system. Biol Bull 165:791–810

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Widder EA, Latz MI, Herring PJ, Case JF (1984) Far-red bioluminescence from two deep-sea fishes. Science 225:512–514

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wild RA, Darlington E, Herring PJ (1985) An acoustically controlled cod-end system for the recovery of deep-sea animals at in situ temperatures. Deep-Sea Res 32:1583–1589

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are most grateful to Dr E.A. Widder for her assistance in obtaining the video images in Figs. 1 and 6 and to Dr N.J. Marshall for advice on the reflectance measurements. We are also grateful to Dr. Widder and Dr. T. Sutton for their helpful comments on the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, Waterfront Campus, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK

    Peter J. Herring

  2. Department of Anatomy, St George’s Hospital Medical School, Blackshaw Road, Tooting, London, SW17 0RE, UK

    Celia Cope

Authors

  1. Peter J. Herring

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Celia Cope

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Communicated by J. P. Thorpe, Port Erin

Electronic supplementary material

About this article

Cite this article

Herring, P.J., Cope, C. Red bioluminescence in fishes: on the suborbital photophores of Malacosteus, Pachystomias and Aristostomias. Marine Biology 148, 383–394 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-005-0085-3

Download citation

  • Received: 20 December 2004

  • Accepted: 14 June 2005

  • Published: 28 September 2005

  • Issue Date: December 2005

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-005-0085-3

Keywords