Nipponese and Thai researcher have key four species of luminous snails in what is only the second find of this kind in 80 days .
Bioluminescence is actuallyquite rareamong creature . To date , scientist have only distinguish around 7,000 species of animals that can radiate this way of life , most of which are located in the world’soceans .
The phenomenon is due to chemical reactions that take place in the tool ’s consistency , a process like that harnessed by human researchers performingchemiluminescence assay . The reaction creates a small amount of heat , which is sometimes referred to as “ dusty light ” .
The wondrous world of glowing snails is as rarefied as it is bewitch . For decades , the only known example of bioluminescent land mollusk wasQuantula striata , the “ blinking escargot ” , which was discover in 1943 . This endearing intermediate - sized , air - external respiration escargot lives in afew placesthroughout Singapore , Malaysia , Cambodia , the Philippines , Fiji , and on some of the island around the Riau Archipelago . But for all its glowing glory , it appear to be the only one of its sort . That is , until now !
While try out various terrestrialsnailscollected in Thailand during 2022 , an international squad of researchers from Chubu University in Aichi Prefecture , Japan , and Chulalongkorn University , Bangkok , Thailand , discovered four new species that join “ Blinky ” in this previously solitary class .
According to the study , the snails all belong to the genusPhuphania , and produce a continuous unripened Inner Light from cell that seem in the escargot ’s mantle and foot . These luminous voice and their patterns are all unlike to those ofQ. striata .
“ Although bothQuantulaandPhuphaniacan bring forth a green Christ Within , the glow patterns are dissimilar , ” the writer spell in their paper . “ The luminescence display byQuantulais rhythmical blinking or flashing , whilePhuphaniaglows continuously . "
It is probable the snails acquire this light to avoid piranha . According to theAsahi Shimbun , Professor Yuichi Oba , of Chubu University ’s Department of Environmental Biology and a phallus of the research team , they may do this by mimicking the glow of other aglow creatures that are really poisonous , such as firefly larvae .
The study is published inScientific Reports .
