Look At This: A Shrimp Vomits A Glowing Cloud

80beats
By Ashley P. Taylor
Oct 12, 2012 9:44 PMNov 20, 2019 12:50 AM

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Startle this Parapandulus shrimp, and it will spit a glowing cloud in your direction, illuminating you for predators to see. To produce these van Gogh-like swirls, the shrimp vomits up

chemicals that react together to produce light. This particular shrimp was photographed in the Bahamas, during an expedition

in the Johnson-Sea-Link

 submersible near the sea floor. The mission? To poke sea creatures and see if they would glow

. Check out more bioluminescent animals at National GeographicNews

.

Shrimp photo via by Sönke Johnsen NOAA-OER/National Geographic News

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