Bioluminescence, not phosphoresence

[SaltSpringKiterPeaceGuy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioluminescence

[MartyD]

Thanks Kev!
I was in Bamfeild a few years back and met some marine biology students. We called it phosphorescens and were very firmly informed that is has nothing to do with phosphorus and we were wrong.
I must have called it bioluminescens 100 times this year only to have phosphorescens replied

[Teabag]

No, not this discussion again.

Bio luminescence or phosphorescent have nothing to do with the green lights in Nitinat Lake!

Don't you guys know the real story?

[mortontoemike]

What's with the luminescence thread?

[SaltSpringKiterPeaceGuy]

tell us teabag!

[mortontoemike]

Luminescence is a generic term that is used to describe light emission from a molecule (or atom in some cases). Luminescence occurs when a molecule in an excited state emits light to release the stored internal energy. There are two ways that can happen , a so called singlet-singlet transition called fluorescence or a triplet-singlet transition called PHOSPHORESCENCE. The phosphorus connection is historical. If the excited state is created by a chemical reaction the process goes by the name chemiluminescence. In nature one sees all of these. There is a jellyfish that fluoresces because of a protein called Green Fluorescence Protein (GFP) (Nobel Prize in 2008 - http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chem ... press.html )

There are organisms that exhibit chemiluminescence, like fireflies, and phosphorescence such as marine bacteria and phytoplankton.

Now back to the green lights ....

[seabilly]

Jeez...

[firstonlastoff]

and intersystem crossing doesn't mean those lucky individuals who get to play on the water with the wind using either a kite or a sail as conditions permit! mtm...

[mortontoemike]

Hey there is more. There is also triboluminescence where the excited state is caused by pressure or compression. Wintergreen Lifesavers do this. Buy some and crunch them in your mouth in a very dark room in front of a mirror an watch the blue flashes.

See http://pages.towson.edu/ladon/wg/candywww.htm

I'll stop now. Sorryto bore people .....

[AC]

Just so you know,
Its a Hump Back and not a Gray Whale:

[mortontoemike]

Um. OK. Thanks AC. I'm really more of a Humbolt Squid man than a whale man.

[mortontoemike]

There is a jellyfish that fluoresces because of a protein called Green Fluorescence Protein (GFP) (Nobel Prize in 2008 - http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chem ... press.html )

OK. No one is talking about the green lights. Soooo...

I was reading more about the jellyfish that produces Green Fluorescent Protein (see above). The jellyfish is very common around Vancouver Island. It's Latin name is "Aequorea victoria." perhaps after the city? The protein was first isolated at a lab in Friday Harbour, San Juan Island by Osamu Shimomura in 1962 who shared the Nobel Prize in 2008 for it's discovery. As a side note, Shimomura was a survivor of the Nagasaki bombing of 1945.
GFP is very important in the field of molecular biology and has revolutionized aspects of genomics.

I wonder if there are any of these jellyfish in Nitinat ..... glowing green .....

Pat. You have cool kin ...