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 FOR RELEASE ON Tuesday, December 14, 2010 04:01 PM PSTTuesday, December 14, 2010 Scripps Scientists See the Light in Bizarre Bioluminescent Snail Research uncovers secrets of strange mollusk and its use of light as a possible defense mechanism Scripps Institution of Oceanography / University of California, San Diego EMBARGOED BY PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B FOR RELEASE:DECEMBER 14, 2010, 4:01 P.M. U.S. PACIFIC STANDARD TIME  Examples of the clusterwink snail H. brasiliana emitting biolumuniescent light (right) and without light. Dimitri Deheyn and Nerida Wilson of Scripps Oceanography (Wilson is now at the Australian Museum in Sydney) studied a species of "clusterwink snail," a small marine snail typically found in tight clusters or groups at rocky shorelines. These snails were known to produce light, but the researchers discovered that rather than emitting a focused beam of light, the animal uses its shell to scatter and spread bright green bioluminescent light in all directions.  Dimitri Deheyn In experiments conducted inside Scripps' Experimental Aquarium facility, Deheyn documented how H. brasiliana set off its glow, which he likens to a burglar alarm going off, when the snail was confronted by a threatening crab or a nearby swimming shrimp.  Nerida Wilson "It's rare for any bottom-dwelling snails to produce bioluminescence," Wilson said. "So its even more amazing that this snail has a shell that maximizes the signal so efficiently." Discovering how the snail spreads its light came as a surprise to the researchers since this species of clusterwink features opaque, yellowish shells that would seem to stifle light transmission. But in fact when the snail produces green bioluminescence from its body, the shell acts as a mechanism to specifically disperse only that particular color of light.  The opaque shells of clusterwink snails would seem to blunt light transmission. "The light diffusion capacity we see with this snail is much greater than comparative reference material," said Deheyn, of Scripps' Marine Biology Research Division. "Our next focus is to understand what makes the shell have this capacity and that could be important for building materials with better optical performance." The study was funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Mark Mitchell Foundation. # # # Note to broadcast and cable producers: University of California, San Diego provides an on-campus satellite uplink facility for live or pre-recorded television interviews. Please phone or e-mail the media contact listed above to arrange an interview. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, at University of California, San Diego, is one of the oldest, largest and most important centers for global science research and education in the world. Now in its second century of discovery, the scientific scope of the institution has grown to include biological, physical, chemical, geological, geophysical and atmospheric studies of the earth as a system. Hundreds of research programs covering a wide range of scientific areas are under way today in 65 countries. The institution has a staff of about 1,300, and annual expenditures of approximately $155 million from federal, state and private sources. Scripps operates one of the largest U.S. academic fleets with four oceanographic research ships and one research platform for worldwide exploration.
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