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Bioluminescence

Dolphins glow with the flow

Nature volume 393, pages 731–733 (1998)Cite this article

Bioluminescence is the remarkable ability of many living organisms to produce visible light. These organisms, which include bacteria and dinoflagellates, fireflies and fish, use special chemiluminescent reactions to produce energy in the form of light. The luminous dinoflagellates are unique flow markers, lighting up only when particular levels of shear stress are present.

Previous attempts to use anecdotal accounts and sketches of dolphin-stimulated bioluminescence to infer the flow field around an animal's body have foundered in the absence of hard data. These attempts have led, for example, to the incorrect assumptions that the presence of the bioluminescence indicates turbulent flow and its absence from particular regions implies laminar flow.

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Figure 1: ‘Dolphins in phosphorescent sea’.

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  1. the Southampton Oceanography Centre, Empress Dock, SO14 3ZH, Southampton, UK

    Peter J. Herring

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  1. Peter J. Herring
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Herring, P. Dolphins glow with the flow. Nature 393, 731–733 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/31582

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