Spectral composition of the light of the Lantern-fish,Myctophum punctatum

Abstract

Relative spectral emission curves are available for the lights of many invertebrate animals, but none exists for fish. It seems likely that many bony fish use their photophores to signal to one another. Information about the spectral composition of fish luminescence is desirable to permit comparisons with the spectral sensitivities of fish eyes, to enable calculations to be made of luminous intensities, and to allow estimates to be made of the rate of attenuation of such lights in sea water. To further these ends, measurements were made of the spectral composition of the luminescence of the lantern-fish,Myctophum punctatum.