List of bioluminescent organisms explained

Bioluminescence is the production of light by living organisms. This list of bioluminescent organisms is organized by the environment, covering terrestrial, marine, and microorganisms.

Terrestrial animals

• Certain arthropods
  • Coleoptera (beetles)
    • Lampyridae (Fireflies)
    • Phengodidae (Glowworm beetles)
      • railroad worms
    • Rhagophthalmidae
    • Sinopyrophoridae
    • Certain Elateridae (Click beetles)
      • Pyrophorini
      • Balgus
      • Campyloxenus
  • Diptera (true flies)
    • Certain keroplatid fungus gnats
  • Myriapoda
    • Certain centipedes
      • Geophilus carpophagus^[1]
      • Orphnaeus brevilabiatus
    • Certain millipedes
      • Genus Motyxia^[2]
• Some land snails^[3]
  • Quantula striata
  • Quantula weinkauffiana
  • Genus Phuphania
• Annelids
  • Octochaetus multiporus
  • Microscolex phosphoreus^[4]
  • Pontodrilus litoralis

Marine animals

Fish

• • Anglerfish Gulper eel
• Lanternfish
• Stomiiformes
  • Marine hatchetfish^[5]
  • Viperfish
  • Black dragonfish
• Midshipman fish
• Pineconefish
• Lanterneye fish
• Some Squaliformes
  • Lantern sharks
  • Kitefin sharks
  • Velvet dogfish

Invertebrates

• A deep-sea species of carnivorous sponge (Cladorhizidae)^[6]
• Many Cnidarians
  • Sea pens
    • Renilla reniformis
  • Coral
  • Certain Jellyfish
    • Aequorea victoria
    • Atolla jellyfish
    • Helmet jellyfish
• Certain Ctenophores (comb jellies)
• Some Tunicates:
  • Larvaceans^[7]
  • Salps^[8]
  • Ascidiacea^[9]
  • Doliolida^[10]
  • Pyrosomes^[11]
• Certain echinoderms (e.g. Ophiurida)
  • Amphiura filiformis
  • Ophiopsila aranea
  • Ophiopsila californica
  • Amphipholis squamata
• Many Crustaceans:^{[12] [13] [14]}
  • Seed shrimp (Myodocopa)
  • Copepods
  • Lophogastrids (Gnathophausia)
  • Amphipods
  • Krill
  • Deacpods (shrimp and prawn)
    • Genus Heterocarpus.
• Two species of Chaetognaths (arrow worms)
  • Caecosagitta macrocephala
  • Eukrohnia fowleri
• Annelida
  • Genus Tomopteris
  • Genus Swima
  • Certain Polynoidae
• Mollusca
  • Certain Bivalves (clams)
    • Plocamopherus maderae
    • Pholas dactylus
  • Certain Nudibranchs (sea slugs)
  • Certain sea snails
    • Hinea brasiliana
  • Many Cephalopods
    • Certain Octopuses
      • Bolitaenidae
      • Stauroteuthis
    • Vampire squid
    • Sepiolida
    • Many Teuthida (squid)
      • Cranchiidae
        • Colossal Squid
      • Mastigoteuthidae
      • Histioteuthidae
      • Enoploteuthoidea
        • Firefly squid

Freshwater animals

• Latia, a genus of four species of freshwater snail

Fungi

See main article: article and List of bioluminescent fungi.

Bacteria

• Photorhabdus luminescens
  • Certain species of the family Vibrionaceae (e.g. Vibrio fischeri, Vibrio harveyi, Photobacterium phosphoreum)
  • Certain species of the family Shewanellaceae, (e.g. Shewanella hanedai and Shewanella woodyi)

Other microorganisms

• Protists
  • Certain Dinoflagellates (e.g. Noctiluca scintillans, Pyrodinium bahamense,^[15] Pyrocystis fusiformis ^[16] and Lingulodinium polyedra^[17]

Notes and References

1. http://www.joyofplants.com/wildlife/search.php?o=128 Geophilus carpophagus – a centipede – Family: Geophilidae
2. http://www.herper.com/myriapods/strange.html Myriapods: strange millipedes
3. Pholyotha . Arthit . Yano . Daichi . Mizuno . Gaku . Sutcharit . Chirasak . Tongkerd . Piyoros . Oba . Yuichi . Panha . Somsak . 2023-09-13 . A new discovery of the bioluminescent terrestrial snail genus Phuphania (Gastropoda: Dyakiidae) . Scientific Reports . en . 13 . 1 . 15137 . 10.1038/s41598-023-42364-y . 2045-2322 . 10499882 . 37704646. 2023NatSR..1315137P .
4. Oba . Yuichi . Branham . Marc A. . Fukatsu . Takema . November 2011 . The Terrestrial Bioluminescent Animals of Japan . Zoological Science . 28 . 11 . 771–789 . 10.2108/zsj.28.771 . 22035300 . 0289-0003.
5. Web site: July 25, 2005. Nitric oxide in control of luminescence from hatchetfish (Argyropelecus hemigymnus) photophores. JEB. Journal of Experimental Biology.
6. 10.3389/fmars.2020.576476 . free . Bioluminescence in an Undescribed Species of Carnivorous Sponge (Cladorhizidae) from the Deep Sea . 2020 . Martini . Séverine . Schultz . Darrin T. . Lundsten . Lonny . Haddock . Steven H. D. . Frontiers in Marine Science . 7 .
7. Book: Life in the Open Ocean: The Biology of Pelagic Species . 978-1-119-84031-2 . Torres . Joseph J. . Bailey . Thomas G. . 14 January 2022 . John Wiley & Sons .
8. Book: Bioluminescent Marine Plankton . 978-981-5050-21-9 . Santhanam . Ramasamy . 16 June 2022 . Bentham Science Publishers .
9. The Intrinsic Origin of Bioluminescence in the Ascidian, Clavelina miniata . 10.2307/1541889 . 1541889 . Aoki . Masakazu . Hashimoto . Koichiro . Watanabe . Hiroshi . Biological Bulletin . 1989 . 176 . 1 . 57–62 .
10. Ecological substrate in midwater: Doliolula equus, a new mesopelagic tunicate . 10.1017/S0025315405011586 . 2005 . Robison . Bruce H. . Raskoff . Kevin A. . Sherlock . Rob E. . Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom . 85 . 3 . 655–663 . 2005JMBUK..85..655R .
11. Tessler . Michael . Gaffney . Jean P. . Oliveira . Anderson G. . Guarnaccia . Andrew . Dobi . Krista C. . Gujarati . Nehaben A. . Galbraith . Moira . Mirza . Jeremy D. . Sparks . John S. . Pieribone . Vincent A. . Wood . Robert J. . Gruber . David F. . 2020 . A putative chordate luciferase from a cosmopolitan tunicate indicates convergent bioluminescence evolution across phyla . Scientific Reports . en . 10 . 1 . 17724 . 10.1038/s41598-020-73446-w . 33082360 . 7576829 . 2020NatSR..1017724T . 2045-2322.
12. Herring . Peter J. . 1976 . Bioluminescence in decapod Crustacea . Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom . en . 56 . 4 . 1029–1047 . 10.1017/S0025315400021056 . 1976JMBUK..56.1029H . 1469-7769.
13. Book: Shimomura . Osamu . Bioluminescence: Chemical Principles And Methods . 3rd . Yampolsky . Ilia V. . 2019-06-06 . World Scientific . 978-981-327-712-0 . en.
14. Book: Bioluminescent Marine Plankton . 978-981-5050-21-9 . Santhanam . Ramasamy . 16 June 2022 . Bentham Science Publishers .
15. Web site: Gasparich, Sara. The Concentration and Distribution of Bioluminescent Dinoflagellates in Vieques, Puerto Rico.. 20th Annual Keck Symposium. 13 December 2012.
16. Web site: Schiro. Danielle. Eigner. Rachel. A Knight in Shining Armor. Pyrocystis fusiformis. University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. 29 January 2015. 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20150130003419/https://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/f2013/eigner_rach/. 30 January 2015. dead.
17. Latz. Michael. Nauen. Jennifer. Rohr. Jim. Bioluminescence response of four species of dinoflagellates to fully developed pipe flow. Journal of Plankton Research . J. Plankton Res.. 2004. 26 . 12 . 1529–1546 . 10.1093/plankt/fbh141 . 28 February 2024.