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Seawater as a color filter for marine bioluminescence Jean-François Rees*1; EM Thompson2 (1) Animal Biology Unit, University of Louvain, Croix du Sud 4, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; (2) SARS, Bergen, Norway      *(reesjf@bani.ucl.ac.be) While several works analyzed bioluminescence emissions spectra of marine organisms, these failed to consider the impact of the seawater present between the emitter and the potential receivers on the color of the light that is being actually perceived. Indeed seawater light absorption properties highly varies with the wavelength, and this is further affected by the chlorophyll content of seawater. This prompted us to investigate the spectral modifications of bioluminescence emissions travelling through seawater. Thanks to a mathematical model, spectral absorption properties of seawater differing by their chlorophyll content were calculated and applied on bioluminescence spectra of various marine organisms travelling through seawater. These computer-based simulations help us understanding the links between bioluminescence spectra and the spectral sensitivity of visual systems. Simulations in the midshipman fish Porichthys and deep sea fishes equipped with red-emitting photophores will illustrate the usefulness of such model. [Poster: rees.jeanfr.43322]

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