light organs of Antarctic krill Euphausia superba

Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý

Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý
Ý

light organs of Antarctic krill Euphausia superba

click on day / night or other details or larger image

Name:Antarctic krill (Leuchtgarnele, Walkrebs)

Scientific name: Euphausia superba

Details: aquarell drawn from a 16 mm film imaging krill in a flume on METEOR in 1981

Status:

Dynamic: click on day night to shift

Special: drawn on the occasion of Hempels 60th birthday, the light organs are simulated with phosphorescent paint, the night picture is taken using a flash to charge the paint before taking the picture
Ý

Copyright:Uwe Kils

What is the function of bioluminescence in the ocean?

How does it help the antarctic krill?

How is it controlled in krill?General priciples: luciferase + oxygen + ATP + luciferin = light

Hands on the experiments: (not exactly the same chemistry as in krill but fun in the dark):

Experiment 1: mix in a vialÝ 0.1 gram of luminol and 0.1 gram of perborate in water. Go into a really dark room and wait there for at least six minutes. Add one crystal of copper sulfate.
Experiment 2: Measure the water temperature to 0.1 degree precision, best with a digital meter (ca. 10 dollar at RADIO SHACK).
Experiment 3: Record the seconds it takes to dim to about half, about quarter and darkness again. If you have a light meter try it, but it needs to be very sensitive - you can build your own one with a large photocell and micro voltmeter - what color is the light?
Experiment 4: Do the same in a small glass dish. Place the dish in the darkroom on a piece of high sensitive black & white photographic film or paper. Blow over the water surface, develop the film
Experiment 5: Try out different concentration of the substances and different temperatures. What is the highest light emittance you can get? Use a Q-TIP to take out some of the light, paint a krill on paper and place such Q-TIPs at the spots where the lamps are, take a long exposure photograph in the darkroom
Ý
at the end of the experiments give the leftovers to your teacher to dispose of properly (the chemicals are not dangerous, but no chemical material should be released into the environment if it can be avoided)
if you can not get the chemicals we can send you a set plusÝ a little bookletÝ (good for 30 experiments) and also take back the leftovers if you arrange for a donation of 20 dollars
If you want your results and suggestions to participate in our cyberSCHOOL send the data and/or a picture to ICE CLUB 161 South Concord Terrace, Absecon NJ 08201 or email to kils@bellatlantic.net - and you will receive a small award and certificate of participation in our online OCEANOGRAPHY CLASS
Ý
experiments without any extra equipment:
Experiment 6: turn the lights of your room down. Take the night aquarell image into a graphic editing program like ADOBE PHOTOSHOP or COREL PHOTO, set picture at full monitor size. Turn down the brightness of your monitor, wait 20 seconds, slowly turn it up again. Alternatively you can control brightness via the programs.
Experiment 7: Add blur (best Gaussian blur) to the image - or squeeze your eyes)
Experiment 8: copy and past a large school together, changing also the size of the krill individuals
Experiment 9: take a look into the cyberMICROSCOPE of the KINDER UNIVERSITY to see where the lamps are mounted (to connect click here) http://www.ecoscope.com/ecoscope.htm), the krill tour starts in the right eyeglass, (you can find a handbook there below the scope)

back to uwe's server

institute of marine and coastal sciencesRUTGERS

antarktischer krill wal wale filtrierer plankton nekton antarktis suedpolar suedpol suedpolarmeer ice scraping harvesting ice fouling upgrowth diatoms algae on the ice aufwuchs aufwachsen abgrasen kuh unterm eis cow under the ice grazing collecting antibenthos anti benthos unterseite subsurface packice pack ice packice zone suedpolarmeer southern ocean meer ocean biomasse groesste walnahrung krebs crustacea jacques yves cousteau gotthilf hempel jupp menke uwe kils kinder of the planet kids of the globe kinder university elektronen mikroskop electron microscope stereoscan stereo scan sem rem schwimmbein schwimmbeine pleopoden paddel paddle propulsion antrieb flap flip schwimmen biomass scar scor globec mikroskop microscope stereo scan rem raster elektronen mikroskop scanning electron microscope sinking global warming carbon cycle kohlenstoff haushalt treibhaus effekt licht lichtorgan luciferase luciferin luminescence glow in the dark glowing gluehen leuchten meeresleuchten meeres leuchten online experiment online experimente biologie ecologie biology ecology experiments chemie chemical experiments