海洋探险家艾迪丝·韦德尔揭示了生物发光生物令人惊叹的复杂”语言”——它们能将深海照亮，宛如一场”光的暴风雪”。
生物发光生物最壮观的聚集发生在海洋的暮光区，即水下200至1000米之间。在那里，鱿鱼、鱼类、虾和水母找到了发起”对话”的理想光照条件。深海探险家艾迪丝·韦德尔第一次邂逅这样的深海光影秀，是在1984年她身穿加压潜水服探索圣巴巴拉海峡时。”第一次的感觉有些奇异，几乎像是一场光的暴风雪，”她说，”另一些时候，看起来像是一阵阵蓝色烟雾。每次下潜都不一样。”然而，这些光影秀真正迷人之处在于：它们不仅仅是视觉奇观，更是这些生物相互交流的方式。请欣赏她在过去三十年潜水生涯中所遭遇的一些更为精妙的”发光表达”。
通宵营业的”餐厅”
鮟鱇鱼利用会发光的诱饵吸引毫无戒备的猎物，例如虾、鱿鱼或鱼类。猎物被看似美味的东西所吸引，却不是去享用美餐，而是自己成了美餐。”这些鱼会将猎物整个吞下，”韦德尔说，”它们甚至能吃掉比自身还大的东西。它们有点像蟒蛇，胃可以扩张以容纳相当大的猎物——因为食物在深海实在稀缺，它们对吃什么并不挑剔。”
我要溜了
当桡足类动物感知到附近的威胁时，这种微小的甲壳动物会从腿部的腺体释放出生物发光化学物质来转移威胁者的注意力——就像战斗机发射信号弹以迷惑追踪导弹一样。
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