"Amazing!" "Wow!" "Cool" Any one of these may well be the response when children see the lenticular cover and glow-in-the-dark illustrations in Glow Down Deep. The book takes readers into the lives of amazing glowing organisms -- animal and otherwise -- and shines a new light on the spectacular natural phenomena of bioluminescence, biofluorescence and ultraviolet light.
Glow Down Deep goes into the depths of the ocean to find sea dwellers that use the power of light--or the semblance of light--to survive. It could be for camouflage, mating, warding off predators or attracting prey. The Glowing Ocean, for example, is a type of bioluminescence that many humans can see. It occurs on the water surface when small planktonic surface dwellers--such as single-celled Dinoflagellates--are bioluminescent. Under the right conditions, they bloom in dense layers, giving the ocean surface a reddish-brown color in daylight and a sparkly sheen at night. Some of the Dinoflagellates in these algal blooms are poisonous to animals and can cause sickness or even death in humans.
Readers will learn about 23 organisms, their biology, what type of luminescence they use, where and how they survive. "Did You Know?" insets focus on unusual facts, like the sailors who followed the lights of Flashlight Fish to guide their boats through dangerous coral reefs at night; or the glowing Siphonophore Fish, one of the longest animals in the world, even longer than a blue whale!