Bioluminescence, tracing back to the Cambrian era 540 million years ago, likely served diverse functions such as communication, courtship, and camouflage among early oceanic organisms. This revelation comes from a recent study that redefines our understanding of bioluminescence, pushing its origins back by a staggering 300 million years compared to previous estimates.
Andrea Quattrini, a curator of corals at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and one of the study authors, highlights the prevalence of bioluminescence in the deep sea, where organisms produce their own light through a chemical reaction. This phenomenon is not exclusive to marine life but is also found in various land-based organisms.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, sheds light on the origins of bioluminescence in octocorallia, a group of marine invertebrates. By analyzing fossilized octocorals with known ages and characteristics, the researchers determined that bioluminescence emerged in these organisms around 540 million years ago.
Previously, bioluminescence was believed to have originated around 267 million years ago in crustaceans during the Permian period. However, the new findings push back this timeline to the early Cambrian period, a time of rapid evolution and diversification of animal life on Earth.
Stefan Schramm, a professor of applied organic chemistry at the University of Applied Sciences Dresden, notes that this transformation underscores the adaptive value of bioluminescence in marine evolutionary history. The emergence of bioluminescence from a mechanism to detoxify oxygen to a form of communication in low-light environments highlights its significance in the survival and evolution of marine organisms.
The presence of eyes and photoreceptors in early oceanic creatures during the Cambrian era suggests that bioluminescence likely played a functional role in communication between species. Quattrini suggests that this research hints at bioluminescence being one of the earliest forms of communication in the oceans, facilitating interactions among rapidly diversifying marine life forms occupying new ecological niches.