How The Little Mermaid Partied: Disco Clams

With all the colorful creatures of the sea, do you really think evolution would settle for anything less than a disco party in the deep? It isn’t bioluminescence that disco clams use to create their dazzling light shows, though, but rather the silica mirrors they have in their lips. Yes, we said “lips.” How hard core is that? Study researcher Lindsey Dougherty, a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, used a spectrometer to measure the light emitted by the clams and discovered that the silica spheres are especially good at reflecting the short wavelengths of blue light, which can reach deep-sea water easier than longer wavelengths of light. The outside of the clam’s lips do not have any silica spheres and are especially good at absorbing the blue light. The absorption makes the outside of the lips appear very dark, the researchers said. The clams unfurl their lips twice every second and the rapid flipping between the light and dark side of the lips creates a rippling effect. Any bets on how long it takes for the body modification club scene to make this a trend?

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