Iso-luminance counterillumination drove bioluminescent shark radiation.
(2014) In Scientific Reports 4.- Abstract
- Counterilluminating animals use ventral photogenic organs (photophores) to mimic the residual downwelling light and cloak their silhouette from upward-looking predators. To cope with variable conditions of pelagic light environments they typically adjust their luminescence intensity. Here, we found evidence that bioluminescent sharks instead emit a constant light output and move up and down in the water column to remain cryptic at iso-luminance depth. We observed, across 21 globally distributed shark species, a correlation between capture depth and the proportion of a ventral area occupied by photophores. This information further allowed us, using visual modelling, to provide an adaptive explanation for shark photophore pattern diversity:... (More)
- Counterilluminating animals use ventral photogenic organs (photophores) to mimic the residual downwelling light and cloak their silhouette from upward-looking predators. To cope with variable conditions of pelagic light environments they typically adjust their luminescence intensity. Here, we found evidence that bioluminescent sharks instead emit a constant light output and move up and down in the water column to remain cryptic at iso-luminance depth. We observed, across 21 globally distributed shark species, a correlation between capture depth and the proportion of a ventral area occupied by photophores. This information further allowed us, using visual modelling, to provide an adaptive explanation for shark photophore pattern diversity: in species facing moderate predation risk from below, counterilluminating photophores were partially co-opted for bioluminescent signalling, leading to complex patterns. In addition to increase our understanding of pelagic ecosystems our study emphasizes the importance of bioluminescence as a speciation driver. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4383636
- author
- Claes, Julien M ; Nilsson, Dan-E LU ; Straube, Nicolas ; Collin, Shaun P and Mallefet, Jérôme
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Scientific Reports
- volume
- 4
- article number
- 4328
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:24608897
- wos:000332452700002
- scopus:84905467933
- pmid:24608897
- ISSN
- 2045-2322
- DOI
- 10.1038/srep04328
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- e8699ac0-b916-4cef-b17a-ef7071567397 (old id 4383636)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 14:08:47
- date last changed
- 2022-02-27 01:00:19
@article{e8699ac0-b916-4cef-b17a-ef7071567397,
abstract = {{Counterilluminating animals use ventral photogenic organs (photophores) to mimic the residual downwelling light and cloak their silhouette from upward-looking predators. To cope with variable conditions of pelagic light environments they typically adjust their luminescence intensity. Here, we found evidence that bioluminescent sharks instead emit a constant light output and move up and down in the water column to remain cryptic at iso-luminance depth. We observed, across 21 globally distributed shark species, a correlation between capture depth and the proportion of a ventral area occupied by photophores. This information further allowed us, using visual modelling, to provide an adaptive explanation for shark photophore pattern diversity: in species facing moderate predation risk from below, counterilluminating photophores were partially co-opted for bioluminescent signalling, leading to complex patterns. In addition to increase our understanding of pelagic ecosystems our study emphasizes the importance of bioluminescence as a speciation driver.}},
author = {{Claes, Julien M and Nilsson, Dan-E and Straube, Nicolas and Collin, Shaun P and Mallefet, Jérôme}},
issn = {{2045-2322}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
series = {{Scientific Reports}},
title = {{Iso-luminance counterillumination drove bioluminescent shark radiation.}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep04328}},
doi = {{10.1038/srep04328}},
volume = {{4}},
year = {{2014}},
}