Lights are everywhere for the holidays, from stores and houses to lights strung above them. But in remote Russia, biologists see festive twinkles in snow.
These faint blue lights were spotted by Arctic biologists off the White Sea.
Vera Emelianenko is a microbiologist who was stationed at remote field stations. She collected snow and placed it under the microscope. The glow came from small bioluminescent copepods.
These creatures, also known as the bugs of sea, can be found at ocean depths up to 300 feet in the daytime and just a few feet at the night.
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Lights are everywhere for the holidays, from stores and houses to lights strung above them. However, in remote regions of Russia, scientists are finding festive twinkles amongst the snow.
Ksenia Kolobokova of Russia’s Academy of Science in Moscow was an Arctic marine zooplankton expert. She said that the copepods probably got into a strong current that brought them to shore.
Tides on December 1, when the glowing snow was first posted, were exceptionally high and again on December 16, which suggests the stronger tides forced the copepods on to land – this species of copepod is called Metridia longa.
A chemical reaction can cause bioluminescence.
It occurs when light energy covers chemical energy. This is only possible in creatures that have luciferin.
Vera Emelianenko is a microbiologist who was stationed at remote field stations. She collected snow and placed it under the microscope. The glow came from small bioluminescent copepods.
These creatures, also known as the bug of the sea are found at the bottom of the ocean up to 300 feet in the daytime and just a few feet at the night.
The light energy created by luciferin’s reaction with oxygen is like an amazing glow.
Some copepods have the luciferin, luciferase, and the luciferin internal to their bodies. Metridialonga however has glands at its head and body that release its incandescence out into the universe.
Steven Haddock is a marine biologist who studies deep-sea Zooplankton at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. He told National Geographic that they would shoot two molecules simultaneously and create a tiny puff of light in water.
Kosobokova saw the copepods in the snow and believed they were alive. The tiny creatures can survive at extremely low temperatures.
These faint blue lights were spotted by Arctic biologists off the White Sea.
A chemical reaction causes bioluminescence, a natural phenomenon. It occurs when light energy is covered by chemical energy. This only happens to creatures that have luciferin.
Tides on December 1, when the glowing snow was first posted, were exceptionally high and again on December 16, which suggests the stronger tides forced the copepods on to land – this species of copepod is called Metridia longa. This is the White Sea
Haddock says they might be dead because fireflies glow even after being squished.
He said, “It happens to us with scientific specimens.” “You take a specimen and put it in the fridge for future study. And then when you pull it out, it will slowly start to glow—the chemicals that are inside of their bodies are still perfectly capable of reacting.’
The most amazing thing is the fact that this glowing snow was not seen at any biological station active for more than 80 years.