Making Corals Glow at Night

Why might #corals glow? We're not entirely sure. It's a lot of work to glow, and it's not even visible to all creatures except those with special pigments in their eyes. And whereas one can understand why a mobile animal like a bird might make itself colorful to attract a mate, corals simply eject their sperm and eggs into the water. One theory is the nutrient theory (or the "poopy theory"). While pretty, living in crystal clear waters doesn't offer the benefit of many nutrients. If you look pretty and glowing to a fish, perhaps they'll come and live on you. The benefit being, that they'll then poop on you, providing lots of nitrogen and phosphate. They'll also clean you, since algae are constantly trying to overgrow #coral. Finally, fish are very territorial, so having these glowing landmarks may be helpful in that regard. But those are just some of the functions of coral biofluorescence, says Dr. Pieribone. There are probably many more. #oceanx