AMNH Creatures of Light: Nature’s Bioluminescence
This exhibition, on view through January 6, 2013, will explore the extraordinary organisms that produce light, from the flickering fireflies found in backyards across the Northeast to the alien deep-sea fishes that illuminate the perpetually dark depths of the oceans. Rare among plants and animals that live on land, the ability to glow—that is, generate light through a chemical reaction—is much more common in the ocean, where up to 90 percent of animals at depths below 700 meters are bioluminescent.
In Creatures of Light, visitors will move through a series of re-created environments, from the familiar to the extreme, to explore the diversity of organisms that glow and how they do it; discover the variety of ways in which light is used to attract a mate, lure unsuspecting prey, or defend against a predator; and learn how, where, and why scientists study this amazing natural phenomenon.
Creatures of Light: Nature’s Bioluminescence is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York (www.amnh.org) in collaboration with the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada, and The Field Museum, Chicago.