Meeting Abstract

3.6  Thursday, Jan. 3  Animal fluorescence: from coral reefs to deep-sea MATZ, Mikhail*; MAZEL, Charles; Univ. of Texas at Austin; Physical Sciences, Inc. matz@mail.utexas.edu

Fluorescence as means of animal communication in the ocean thus far received only sporadic attention; despite that fluorescence is arguably the best way to generate a contrasting color signal in the virtually monochromatic blue environment of the clear ocean water. We documented and quantified fluorescence of marine animals from a range of marine ecosystems, including coral reefs, cold-water rocky shores, open ocean and benthic deep-sea communities down to 1000 m. Our observations suggest that fluorescence in different organisms may play all the major roles typically assigned to coloration, such as crypsis, aposemantism, sexual display and prey attraction.