Submitted by undergroundgeek t3_zr9n8b in todayilearned
I have never heard Rudolph's nose referred to as 'bioluminescent'
It's not wrong, but it kind of spoils the magic doesn't it?
It implies bacteria are responsible though? That - doesn’t sound right? Come to think of it, I’ve never given any serious thought to what it might be. Magic I suppose.
> It implies bacteria are responsible though?
Not at all. There are tons of non-bacteria bioluminescent organisms.
The example that leaps to mind being fireflies.
Oh I see, I always misunderstood that term then
It seems so, bio means life and luminescent means to produce light so it's simply any living organism which can produce light.
Yeah, now it seems obvious... I just always figured it needed some symbiotic bacteria existing within an organism. Huh. Thanks man, every day is a school day.
It's an understandable assumption IMHO. My mind goes directly to algae when bioluminescence is mentioned, simply because it's the only form I've seen firsthand, and was around it quite a bit.
Searched for “bioluminescent reindeer” after this, was not disappointed
sounds like a good AI prompt.
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