Yet Another Mystery
Walking along the shores at night, we always catch brief glimpses of blue bioluminescence, and shining our torch on the spot to try to catch the creature producing it almost inevitably ends in just a vague idea of a rapidly spinning organism nearly too tiny to see. This has been going on for months, and seems to be present in all the North-Eastern shores we visit.
After numerous attempts, Ria finally managed to get a shot of the creature (an amazing feat, no doubt). It was tiny! Look at the algae next to it, you can see the individual cells. Also compare it to the size of the sand grains.
Here it is pictured as it is (probably) about to be consumed by the worm beside it (the pink segmented thing), which probably is the reason for the luminescing. The luminescence also seems to appear when we accidentally step on one in the dark (quite inevitable since they're all over the shore we can't actually see them until they luminesce in our footprint). Anyway, now that we can see it, we still have no idea what it is.
We believe it to be a copepod (pronounced koh-pee-pod), which is a type of crustacean (like the crabs and shrimps). Barnes describes them as small (most ranging from <1mm to 5mm) creatures, which are mostly marine. Copepods do not have compound eyes, and have a median naupliar eye that is "a typical and conspicuous feature of most copepods" (see the black dot?). He also says that many luminescent species have been reported. According to the book, over 8500 species in this class have been described, and it goes on to describe some of the highly diverse features of subgroups of this class in greater detail. Unfortunately, we need to get a microscope to see the details of this particular one.
It never fails to amaze me how little we actually know about the world around us. Half an hour ago I didn't know anything about copepods. Now I know a little bit more, but it barely scratches the surface of what's really out there. Anyone who can remedy my ignorance is very welcome to do so.
Amazingly enough, a quick online search shows many people who study these tiny, nearly unheard of creatures, presumably because of their abundance, and the fact that they are an important link in the food chain.
Copepod links:
World of Copepoda, NMNH
Other useless copepod facts:
What do you call a person who studies copepods? A copepodologist! :)
After numerous attempts, Ria finally managed to get a shot of the creature (an amazing feat, no doubt). It was tiny! Look at the algae next to it, you can see the individual cells. Also compare it to the size of the sand grains.
Here it is pictured as it is (probably) about to be consumed by the worm beside it (the pink segmented thing), which probably is the reason for the luminescing. The luminescence also seems to appear when we accidentally step on one in the dark (quite inevitable since they're all over the shore we can't actually see them until they luminesce in our footprint). Anyway, now that we can see it, we still have no idea what it is.
We believe it to be a copepod (pronounced koh-pee-pod), which is a type of crustacean (like the crabs and shrimps). Barnes describes them as small (most ranging from <1mm to 5mm) creatures, which are mostly marine. Copepods do not have compound eyes, and have a median naupliar eye that is "a typical and conspicuous feature of most copepods" (see the black dot?). He also says that many luminescent species have been reported. According to the book, over 8500 species in this class have been described, and it goes on to describe some of the highly diverse features of subgroups of this class in greater detail. Unfortunately, we need to get a microscope to see the details of this particular one.
It never fails to amaze me how little we actually know about the world around us. Half an hour ago I didn't know anything about copepods. Now I know a little bit more, but it barely scratches the surface of what's really out there. Anyone who can remedy my ignorance is very welcome to do so.
Amazingly enough, a quick online search shows many people who study these tiny, nearly unheard of creatures, presumably because of their abundance, and the fact that they are an important link in the food chain.
Copepod links:
World of Copepoda, NMNH
Other useless copepod facts:
What do you call a person who studies copepods? A copepodologist! :)
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