The next Mercredis d'Endoume lecture, organised by the Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale (IMBE), will focus on "Marine bioluminescence". It will be presented by Séverine Martini, a CNRS researcher at the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanology (MIO), and will take place on Wednesday 30 November 2022 at 7pm at the Endoume marine station in Marseille and on IMBE TV.
Beyond a depth of 200m, the dark ocean represents 80% of ocean volume. Although it is the largest ecosystem on Earth, it remains the least well known. Yet its importance and the many discoveries it holds in store are undeniable. Some organisms have the extraordinary ability to emit light through a chemical reaction: bioluminescence. On land, this phenomenon is restricted to certain animals such as fireflies, but in the ocean, from the surface to a depth of 4,000 metres, ¾ of organisms are bioluminescent, from bacteria to fish, including jellyfish.