@emilylau.bsky.social @ostratodd.bsky.social et al. show that bioluminescent luciferases in brittle stars and octocorals evolved in parallel from haloalkane dehalogenases, highlighting how gene function and genomic availability shape convergent evolution.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molb...
#evolbio #molbio
Run, don't walk, to see this AMAZING video about the bioluminescent ostracods! As said at the end, "I want people to know about them"
A #Crustmas feature related to work of @ostratodd.bsky.social @nikohensley.bsky.social @emilylau.bsky.social @lisayetermesrop.bsky.social @emily-ellis.bsky.social 🧪🦑
A video we made at @mbarinews.bsky.social explaining some functions of #fluorescence in the ocean, and how #bioluminescence is different… but related.
🦑🧪🌊
m.youtube.com/watch?v=whbe...
With the help of @ostratodd.bsky.social and @emilylau.bsky.social we have put together a Bioluminescence (etc) starter pack.
Please let us know if you would like to be added, especially as more people migrate here.
go.bsky.app/9wFuWB9
Oh wow I am awful at threads at blue sky and didn’t even see Steve’s messages!! Sorry to repeat
(If you considered intra-specific interactions as eavesdropping, then the “sneaker male” ostracods, which follow the displaying males, would be another example)
Also I wonder if ostracods are more vulnerable to predation during bioluminescent courtship signaling. If so, that could be another example of “eavesdropping” by predators to locate prey?
Hmm, what about the burglar alarm? Dinoflagellate luminescence (sparked 😉 by mysids) = predation of mysids by my fav fish, Porichthys
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
For “eavesdropping”, are you using it to specifically refer to interspecific interactions?
Being a deepsea bioluminescent fish is more than producing light - some have an internal house of mirrors, reflectors, dark rooms and more ...
Nice new paper on lanternfish photophores by Rene Martin and colleagues.
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
A macro photo taken at night of a green-glowing, bioluminescent click beetle larva, partially outside its burrow in a red-dirt termite mound. The beetle larva has sharp, wide open mandibles, ready to snap shut on any insect that ventures too close, attracted by the light.
A photo at night of a tall termite mound on a grassland. The cloudy sky is faintly blue in the background. The termite mound is dotted with a few dozen green pinpoints of light, all from tiny bioluminescent click beetle larvae living in the mound's surface, giving the termite mound the appearance of lumpy, red-dirt Christmas tree.
An amazing sight from my recent Brazil trip: bioluminescent termite mounds in Emas National Park. Tiny larvae of click beetles (Pyrearinus termitilluminans) glow steadily, hoping to attract flying insects (like winged termites & ants), which they then grab with their sharp mandibles. #insects 🐙🌿
Our latest, by Emily Carlisle, Zongjun Yin, Davide Pisani and myself: Ediacaran origin and Ediacaran-Cambrian diversification of Metazoa www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Would have loved to see it!!
Hello! I’m a postdoc studying the evolution of bioluminescence. Would love to be added, thanks for organizing!
Thank you!! Looking forward to catching up soon at SICB!!!!
Cake with decorative bioluminescent animals (brittle star and toadfish)
And the cake was made by my amazing lab mate @cheyennemckinley.bsky.social!! It also features a little bioluminescent toadfish
Photo of the Oakley Lab at the University of California, Santa Barbara at Emily’s defense celebration.
Photo of a cake with a decorative bioluminescent brittle star.
After a hiatus, I’m jumping back into Bluesky! Updates: I defended my PhD @ UCSB with @ostratodd.bsky.social in the spring and am now a postdoc @ UChicago continuing to study the convergent evolution of bioluminescence (and am now diving deeper into the molecular mechanisms)!
Congrats Marina!!!! 🪼🎉
Hello! Could you please add me? I’m a postdoc studying the molecular evolution of bioluminescence. Google scholar: scholar.google.com/citations?us...
Could you please add me? I study the molecular evolution of bioluminescence 💡
Thanks for putting this together!
Cambrian explosion
End-on view of the "mystery mollusc" Bathydevius caudactylus, as described in Robison and Haddock (2024). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2024.104414
It only took 20+ years, but the "Mystery Mollusc" paper came out this week. It is a swimming nudibranch that gallops in slow motion through the deep water-column. To top it off, it is bioluminescent, and we were able to film its glow with our special low-light camera.🦑🧪
www.mbari.org/news/mbari-r...
I will be giving my dissertation seminar next Monday, 4/29 at 12 PM PDT! I'll be sharing some of my work on the convergent evolution of bioluminescence in ostracods and toadfishes. Please reach out if you'd like a zoom link!
maybe we can discuss this paper in lab meeting, if you’d like to join? @ostratodd.bsky.social 👀
I'll be talking about anglerfish Friday at 10:30 am in room 618! #SICB2024
😭 there’s an ostracod though!!
& lastly, if you are generally interested in convergent evolution, we are looking to plan a virtual workshop some time after the conference! If interested, please fill out this form: forms.gle/nBNyCGUj6v5z...
Please repost and share with any interested folks!
In the last session, we will hear from Becca Young, Aida Verdes, Jack Schultz, Liz Alter, and Todd Oakley (@ostratodd.bsky.social). Their talks will range from mutualistic behavior and visual adaptations in marine systems to the evolution of unique defenses in jellyfish and plants
