Red Fish, Blue Light: How Glowing Sea Creatures Change Color

"Under light conditions that do not provide the full spectrum — the full rainbow of colors that we have at the surface — it's really nice to have fluorescence, because you can still have those missing colors," said study researcher Nico Michiels, a professor at the University of Tüebingen in Germany. Most color pigments work by absorbing some portions of the light spectrum and bouncing the rest back. The molecules responsible absorb one wavelength of light and then emit another, longer wavelength. If fluorescence is mostly a tool used for UV protection, you'd expect to see more of it in shallow waters, where UV light can penetrate, Michiels told Live Science. Read More http://ift.tt/1jvVK8d